Factory 81 were good. Many people won't listen to them because they are labeled as nu metal, but this is a solid band. They mix up their songs and persued melodic vocals with heavy riffs, and spasmatic rapping with some pretty sweet insturmental tracks. Their debut, and only cd, Mankind, had its memorable tracks, and some fillers. The memorable tracks will make you want to listen again and again, with the ocasional listen to the other songs.
1) Nanu: The bands first single, Nanu is a great song. It starts out with a flanged guitar under muttering vocals, leading into an intense chours and then a fast, rapped verse. The bridge is killer, very heavy with a nice beat, very fast sweet vocals, and just plain heavy. Then it leads into a very soft slow part, which is a good addition and keeps the song nice, with very few repeats. A favorite of mine off of the cd.
2) Peace Officer: Cool little bass intro with guitars coming in after, into a harder, but slower add on. Then we get a fill, mixing into a nice verse that is heavy but slow. The chours is sweet, because they mix the screaming and singing very well. The Bridge is one of my favorites, because it has another bass/ guitar fill, with a cool little singing part. This is another favorite track of mine.
3) 14 Left: Cool intro, not much different from the rest of the song, but this is one of my favorite tracks. It has a driving verse, that you can feel having a climatic heavy part coming. And it delivers. It gets heavy, but not fast. The singers voice appeals to me when he sings, and is nice when he screams as well, and he gets both in this song. I love the bridge. That is all I am going to say about that :).
4) Rotten Strawberries: I love this song. Cool little intro leading into...A surreal sounding verse. Tribal beats, chimes, flanged guitars, singing...It is very sweet. The Chours blasts you, because it is almost like you can't feel it coming. It is a very very nice track from an awesome band. The bridge leads with the tribal beats and chimes, and singing with flanged guitar. The bass riff is utterly simple but it adds so much to the song.
5) Bellegerence: Not much to comment on this song about...It has a same sounding intro, a faster verse, and the chours is pretty much the same. This isn't my favorite track.
6) 3 O' Clock Love Letter: Nice guitar intro with a good vocal intro. Gets heavy, but it differs from the rest of the cd somehow. This is a mysterious track because you could say it is like alot of the cd, but it is very different. Alot of chanting-like vocals. Building bridge, back into a chours.
7) Ephedrine: Cool intro, a fading in guitar, that goes into a heavy line, with harmonics. Nice Verse, heavy, but has a good singing vocal line. Heavier chours with singing again, good track.
8) Diary of a Serial Killer: Another track that has a good intro, heavy, with a sweet bass riff for the verse. Another good track, another favorite of mine.
9) Cheese Wheel: Eerie intro, leading into something heavy with some chanting. Cool verse, nice and light, driving, cool. Leads to a sweet chours. A darn good track.
10) Sludge: Cool track, nothing special, it is good, but not stand out.
11) Peace Officer (Black and Blue mix): Very different from the actual track, I prefer the original version, but this is another good track. Better then alot of remixes that other bands have done.
81) Hidden Track (I call it Factory 81: My favorite song. Cool bass intro, with a sweet verse. Fast, but not heavy. It has some sweet lyrics and the singer can do some wicked things with his voice. The Chours is heavy and sweet, One of the most memorable chourses on the cd. The lead up to the second verse is even cool, with another great verse. The bridge keeps the track up, and the outro is...Simply worth it...It fades out with Nate chanting "Factory 81".. Perfect ending to the cd.
This cd would deserve 5 stars if it wouldn't have had Bellegerence and Sludge. I wish these guys would have had more of a chance to get known, they were good. If they wouldn't have broken up, I think something good would have happened for them. This was a killer debut cd, which alot of bands don't have. Even came with a video for Nanu. If you feel like something heavier and different, go check out this cd, it shouldn't be too pricey, and it is something you might dig.
