
I've named this blog and myself after one of their songs, for crying out loud, so I regret to admit that I didn't find out about Fear Factory's latest album until last week. In my defense, they've been sort of coasting for the last five years. And the last few times they were in the news it was over some bullshit drama. Thankfully, their latest was only released in early February, so I almost got it right. When I learned the album was out, I was in fact checking up on whether there was any progress on plans to release it. The drama the band was previously involved in centered around kicking two founding members out, and letting previously ousted member back into the fold. Thankfully, the tinkering behind the scenes paid off.
Mechanize is a return to form for the band, and that form is both familiar yet new.
Some of the best (and worst, frankly) songs Fear Factory ever put out were composed by the team of vocalist Burton C. Bell, and guitarist Dino Cezares (the two original founding members). Cezares was unceremoniously dismissed from his duties around 2003, and the band hit the skids. They put out a few albums since then, but they never could match the brilliance of their 90's efforts. Mechanize marks the return of Cezares to the FF fold, and we're all better off for it. He could never be accused of being the most creative guitar player, but his unique and simple riffing style is one of the hallmarks of FF. He actually joked that he should sue his "replacement" (long-time FF bassist, Christian Olde Wolbers, who moved over to guitar duty following Cezares' departure) after their 2004 album, Archetype, regurgitated his old riffs he'd written for FF's previous albums. It's nice to see this old dog hasn't learned any new tricks. The guitars on Mechanize are simple, fast, and brutal. Fear Factory's schtick had always been incorporating mechanical themes, and designs, into their music and lyrics, and Dino's technical guitar sound is an important part of that formula. Another pillar of Fear Factory is vocalist Burton Bell's voice and range. He was a pioneer of the growl/choir voice dual vocal style that seems to be the staple of every band since then. The biggest letdown of the past few FF albums has been his tendency to move towards a more uniform singing style. There were still screams, but they weren't guttural anymore. Mechanize is a return to form for Bell as well.
Stand out tracks include the nihilistic 'Powershift,' and 'Oxidizer.' Fear Factory's magnum opus, 1999's Obsolete, was a post-techno-apocalyptic concept album, focusing around the rebel, Edgecrusher, and it's nice to hear those themes return. (But I may be biased.) With lines like "always question authority," Bell is channeling the part of ourselves that is always sixteen. Another fun part of this album, specifically the Limited Edition, is the inclusion of demo versions of some FF classics. 'Crash Test,' 'Big God,' and 'Self Immolation' are actually better than the sterile versions found on the band's debut, Soul Of A New Machine. But 'Soul Wound' is a discordant mess compared the the final version, 'Soulwounds,' that itself was eventually included as an extra track on Obsolete.
The album is an intricate blend of old and new Fear Factory sounds. Thanks to the return of the fifth, unofficial member, long-time producer Rhys Fulber. Mechanize feels not like a lost album that was meant to have been released instead of 2001's disastrous Digimortal, but a natural evolution of the Fear Factory organism, an allegory the band themselves often make. In the end, however, it would seem that Fear Factory is just the sum of it's parts, and those parts were clearly defined at the outset. Any deviation, produces anomalies.