Fear Factory Discussion

buck65

Bought Soul of a new Machine on CD on saturday (had it on cassette from years back) fantastic death metal album , liked their 2nd album too (not as good IMO) but kinda lost contact with them since. Just wondering what you guys think of them and their various direction changes over the years??

Karl Hungus

I remember getting Demanufacture back in the day, and being thrilled, so I was a fan up untill Digimortal came out, and then I completely lost interest. But then I actually gave Archetype a go, and was really impressed. They had improved a lot there.

Angus MacGyver

Fear Factory are a great band but I too lost all interest in them after Digimortal. Its such a bad album. Ive heard there new stuff is a step in the right direction but i havent given it a listen.

Malice

Fear Factory are awesome. I was blown away when I got Demanufacture back in 1996 or so. I had never heard such fast guitar and drums. I was certain that Raymond Herrera was a machine until I saw them playing on tv once! Burton C. Bell has an astounding vocal range. There's not many singers that can produce low growls and screams and then pitch-perfect clean vocals in the same song.
Songs like Descent, Invisible Wounds, Pisschrist and Replica were the main reason I took up the seven string guitar. Unlike most people I know I also loved the synth work that Frontline Assembly added to a lot of their tracks. I remember having lengthy "discussions" with people who refused to accept that you could in fact create metal using computers. But that's a topic for a different thread
I have to defend Digimortal too. It's just not as bad as people love to make out. Songs like Invisible Wounds, Linchpin, What Will Become are excellent. I also like Back the Fuck Up but I can understand why that one gets such a bad press!

buck65

but i heard about the later albums that they went very pop and mainstream is this true?Also covering Cars and I will follow by u2 what the fuc is that about??

Fad

i got demanufacture last year and i loved it for about a week then kinda forgot about it, but i got back into it a few weeks ago

Malice

buck65 wrote:

but i heard about the later albums that they went very pop and mainstream is this true?Also covering Cars and I will follow by u2 what the fuc is that about??

Well Back The Fuck Up from Digimortal features Cypress Hill and the old bassist who's now the guitarist, Christian Olde Wolbers, is a big hip-hop fan apparently. Make of that what you will. I wouldn't say that they went poppy and mainstream. That accusation gets levelled at Digimortal a lot though. I think they really miss Dino. Christian is an excellent guitar player but the overall group dynamic has suffered with the loss of the big man. It's a bit like Max Cavalera leaving Sepultura, no matter how well Derrick performs, it still doesn't feel right not seeing Max up there even though he's been gone ten years.

Fear Factory regularly feature cover songs on their albums. Cars by Gary Numan, I Will Follow by U2, Dog Day Sunrise by Head of David and School by Nirvana have featured. Again though, a lot of people don't like them and resent their inclusion. I do though, based on the fact that they don't just produce a cover like a crappy pub band might, they actually give the song a Fear Factory twist while still retaining recognisable characteristics of the original.

Civilian_Target

Yeah, Demanufacture was awesome. Wasn't a huge fan of Concrete or Digimortal though, and never really tried the rest, despite some of the excellent tracks I've heard them play that weren't on Demanufacture (eg. Scumgrief, Linchpin, Cyberwaste) -- just never took the plunge of getting the discs.

And if you think Sepultura are ****e without Max, you're looking at a very blinkered view! Roorback and Revolusongs are great albums, and having seen both Sepultura and Soulfly play, I was infinitely more impressed with Sepultura's performance. Derrik is immediate and domininat on stage and delivers a blistering set that Max can't touch.

Malice

Civilian_Target wrote:

And if you think Sepultura are ****e without Max, you're looking at a very blinkered view! Roorback and Revolusongs are great albums, and having seen both Sepultura and Soulfly play, I was infinitely more impressed with Sepultura's performance. Derrik is immediate and domininat on stage and delivers a blistering set that Max can't touch.

It's off-topic I know but I never said Sepultura were crap without Max. I just said it didn't feel right and to me it doesn't! I've also seen both Sepultura and Soulfly live and I wouldn't agree that Sepultura are infinitely better. I agree that Derrick Green is an excellent front man in his own right though.

Back to Fear Factory: Does anyone else (besides me) like Remanufacture?

Schism

I think everybody's in agreement with Demanufacture, it's a classic and its an album you can keep coming back to years later. The thing about it being such a good album though is the band is always going to be measured by its success. Sure they had a few bad patches since but they still made good music, I love invisible wounds for instance.

What are people's opinions on Archetype? personally I really like this album. Couldnt stop listening to cyberwaste when it came out.

smackbunnybaby

archetype is surprisingly good imo.
the latest one transgression sounds like it was the not so good/finished songs from the archetype sessions and came out far to quick after archetype for me to take it all on board

Karl Hungus

Archetype is easily one of their best, in my humble opinion.

Schism

Ye I was disapointed by Transgression alright, not to say it was a bad album. It didnt really have any standout songs and just plodded along somewhat. That said I didnt listen to it that much might go back for a refresher

Malice

Earthworm Jim! wrote:

I think everybody's in agreement with Demanufacture, it's a classic and its an album you can keep coming back to years later.

I'm not sure if that was in response to my post. If so, note that I wrote Remanufacture!

Earthworm Jim! wrote:

What are people's opinions on Archetype? personally I really like this album. Couldnt stop listening to cyberwaste when it came out.

It's a great album. Slave Labour, Archetype and Human Shields are all awesome songs. I've never really liked Cyberwaste probably because I saw the video before I'd ever heard the song and I thought it was terrible. What was going through the mind of whoever thought it up? Let's get a load of people into a warehouse and have them jump around a bit and we'll all make angry faces into the camera.:rolleyes:

invisiblewill

I reckon Fear Factory are my all time favorite metal band. Dino is one hell of a guitarist. Inspired me to buy a 7 string Ibanez and concentrate on my rythm more than my lead.
Demanufacture is one heck of an album, the timing in Self Bias Resister is phenomenal and I challenge any guitarist to keep the picking hand up to speed for that and H.K

Obsolete is another excellent album, Shock just blew me away with it's pounding bass. Decent and Obsolete make that album.
Digimortal ain't too bad but not the worst. Transgression is by far the most disappointing. I thought things were looking up when Archetype came out as it seemed they were going for more of a raw sound, back to Demanufacture era. But as was said when Dino left a lot of the creativity left with him.

Oh well lets hope they produce something good in their next album