Fear Factory
The Industrialist


4.5
superb

Review

by TheDepravedPelican USER (9 Reviews)
June 4th, 2012 | 26 replies


Release Date: 2012 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Fear Factory showed they could still pull it off with Mechanize, but with this album they set out to tackle their roots once again.

During the past two decades, Fear Factory has shown that they aren't afraid to change their sound. Their first two albums symbolize such, where you have the aggressive, yet chaotic industrial metal effort called Soul Of A New Machine that leads into the critically acclaimed Demanufacture with its crystal clear production and pioneering fusion of angry, throaty metal vocals and melodic, clean passages with climactic effect. And now, with The Industrialist it became apparent that after their successes with Mechanize guitarist Dino Cazares and vocalist Burton C. Bell wished to have a full on return to their roots as opposed to their last effort, Mechanize, which sounded more like another of Dino's side projects except with Burton at the helm.

The first track and title track for the album is a monster where Burton sounds as angry as he ever has, but at times, along with most of this album, his vocals and lyrical execution sound forced. Then once you hit the third track, New Messiah, things calm down and start sounding more like the Fear Factory many fans have come to love. With the same face melting riffs that we've heard from Dino for the past two decades, and more beautiful, harmony filled chorus'. However, due to the strict song structure and riff writing, most of these songs would run together and sound like one big song if it weren't for the excellent and perfectly placed synthesizers and other effects. This album is as true of an industrial metal record as anything they've released in the past fifteen years. They've now shown us that Mechanize wasn't just something to fill seats and gain new fans, but proof that success still lies within their veins.

The Industrialist isn't very easy to swallow on the first few listens though, and unlike their previous successes,Demanufacture and Mechanize, catching on to the songs' chorus lines and heavy fills isn't as easy as one should suspect when you throw Dino and Burton into the picture. But most certainly, after you take time to listen to this album, it will begin to settle in that it isn't just another record released solely to make money, but to win back some of their fan-base that was previously lost during the Digimortal era. The only thing aside from the two average songs Difference Engine and Disassemble and last two tracks, of which are merely instrumental rehashes of effects and synthesizers used throughout the album which were confusingly split into two tracks, is the fact that this album is overproduced.

If you look at previous Fear Factory efforts, exception being Transgression, the production is a severe downgrade. The snare is too loud, the bass drum kicks are two low and soft (not to mention they're programmed drums, so during parts of Recharger and God Eater the kicks and snare sound absolutely horrendous) and the bass guitar / cymbals are barely audible at all. In the end, it turns out that Fear Factory was a little too eager to release an album. They should've waited until Mike Keller was able to record actually drums, and Matt DeVries could rightfully get his chance to add his basslines into the mix. Though, nobody can really blame their eagerness to release such an impressive record from a band that has been chugging for nearly twenty years, through thick and thin, and still manage to capture part of their glory days.

Positives:
Excellent vocal deliverance.
Superb riff writing and execution.
Aggressive.
The best synthesizer / effects work the band has ever done.

Negatives:
Production.
Programmed drums.

Recommended Tracks:
Virus of Faith
Recharger
New Messiah
Depraved Mind Murder
God Eater



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user ratings (479)
3.3
great
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Comments:Add a Comment 
JosephLong
June 4th 2012


301 Comments


heard fade likes em

MO
June 4th 2012


24114 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

album is solid, I never thought production would ever bother me but the production here is pretty sheeit

JosephLong
June 4th 2012


301 Comments


eh its not bad but yea needs more BASS

Funeralopolis
June 5th 2012


14586 Comments


well this is underwhelming

renegadestrings
June 5th 2012


1616 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

this is a great great first review, but the thing that really bothers me is that, from how you've described the album, it absolutely doesn't sound like a 4.5. You go into the positives, but you also highlight the things that really bother you about the album... and it sounds like they would naturally bring the score down to a 3.5 - 4.



nitpicking. good work

TheFinalEffortDrums
June 5th 2012


187 Comments


Programmed drums, wow.

JosephLong
June 5th 2012


301 Comments


woah!

KjSwantko
June 5th 2012


12204 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

!!

BigPleb
June 5th 2012


65799 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Shit rules.

DoubtGin
June 5th 2012


6879 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

yea its crazy

BigPleb
June 5th 2012


65799 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Virus of Faith m/

SteelErectedb4you8er
June 7th 2012


2620 Comments


I dig your review man, I only listened to this once. However, Demanufacture was part of my high school days, and this is the one album in their catalog that reminds me of that Fear Factory. I agree with you that production could have been better, but the quality of the songs make the production tolerable. There are a few things on this record, I need to check out more of, but I am sitting at a 3.5-4.

linchpin313
June 12th 2012


830 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Fucking pos'd!

Nero87
June 21st 2012


62 Comments


Pretty solid album

DeadToPain
January 3rd 2013


694 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

You can't really tell that the drums are programmed (if only because they used so many triggers and effects on the drums in the past anyway). Fear Factory was really "THE" bad that got me into more extreme styles of music. I used to rock Demanufacture and Obsolete in high school constantly. I've always liked Bell's voice (though I totally hear the effects feedback on small speakers as someone else stated), and Dino's riffs are simple but effective for what this band does. It's ALMOST a return to form for them, and not bad by any means. A little underwhelming maybe. Good review, got me to go listen to a band that I had completely lost interest in.

BigPleb
January 3rd 2013


65799 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

m////

thumbcrusher
January 3rd 2013


3791 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

good stuff

DeadToPain
January 3rd 2013


694 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

I'd second a "good stuff", just not "amazing" stuff. I don't know what it is about it that I can't get really excited about.

thumbcrusher
January 3rd 2013


3791 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

i think it helps to know and really like their style with this release. this isn't what i would recommend to someone who hadn't heard them, more one of those albums that fans will probably just dig rather than making everyone take notice.

DeadToPain
January 3rd 2013


694 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Yeah, that's probably true. It definitely makes me nostalgic. I remember playing these guys for my friends (heard them from the Mortal Kombat soundtrack of all places) and they were floored. None of them got into this for quite awhile until after I did. By that point I had kinda put them down for other things, so it annoyed me that everyone seemed to be playing old news to me. Now that I think about it, it was that way for a lot of bands in my teenage years. All of my friends hated Converge when I first bought "Jane Doe", now they are all disciples at the Alter of Ballou and Bannon.



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