UMUR Transgression is the 7th ( or 6th if you don´t include Concrete ( 2002) in your count) full-length studio album by US alternative/ industrial/ death metal act Fear Factory. The album was released in August 2005 by Trillion Records. Transgression is produced by Toby Wright who is known for his work with among others Alice In Chains, Korn and Soulfly. The lineup is unchanged since Archetype (2004) which means Burton C. Bell on vocals, Christian Olde Wolbers on guitars, Raymond Herrera on drums and Byron Stroud on bass.

The music on the album is a kind of alternative/ industrial metal with a few nods towards extreme metal. The change from being an industrial death metal act which was already initiated as far back as on Obsolete (1998) is now complete. There´s very little on Transgression besides the occassional aggressive attitude that suggests that Fear Factory were once a death metal act. Burton C. Bell sings both clean and raw vocal styles on the album but both styles are pretty accessible. The harder hittin´ riffing on the album are more akin to NU-metal and alternative chuggin´ metal style riffing than ever before. The songs are generally very simple and accessible. Calling this an adventurous album would be strecthing the definition of that word very far. Now Archetype was an album where the band had to find their feet after principal songwriter and guitarist Dino Cazares left the band and I can forgive some of the weakneses on that album, but on Transgression it´s become too obvious that Dino Cazares was one of the defining pieces of the puzzle, that made the early Fear Factory albums so influential and unique. Christian Olde Wolbers, who shifted from bass to guitars and became the prinicipal songwriter in Fear Factory after Dino Cazares left, simply hasn´t got the same interesting songwriting ideas. Unfortunately this results in a lot of pretty standard tracks that don´t really stand out from each other that much. Out of 11 tracks the band have also opted to include two cover tracks, which in my book is a sign of decline in terms of proving yourself. A sign that the band have run dry of ideas or maybe even worse lost the hunger and passion. Both the U2 cover I Will Follow and the Killing Joke cover Millennium are performed really well and fits well on the album, but I would have prefered to have them placed on an EP or a single and have them replaced by two original tracks instead. This might all sound a bit negative, but there are actually no below standard tracks on the album and in that respect Transgression is a very consistent album.

It´s no surprise that the musicianship on the album is excellent. I would never question the skills in the band. Well... Burton C. Bell isn´t a great singer meassured on skills or perfect pitch, but he has a unique style that´s instantly recognisable. He doesn´t sound very inspired on this album though and again the word standard comes to mind. I´m really searching for that breathtaking moment of bliss that some of the early albums had plenty of, but it never comes.

The production is polished and very professional. Almost too professional to these ears though. I think the sound lacks punch and rawness. Honestly I find it quite soulless. It´s kind of like listening to a pop album where all the focus is on the vocals and the instrumentation is left to hum in the background.

While my personal experience with Transgression hasn´t exactly been rewarding I still think the quality of the release warrants a 3 - 3.5 star rating. If you are a newbie to Fear Factory, it´s probably the last album by the band that I would recommend listening to though. Thankfully they would return with Mechanize (2010) five years later, stronger than ever and with a new lineup.

UMUR Digimortal is the 4th full-length studio album by American death/ industrial/ alternative metal act Fear Factory. The album was released in April 2001 by Roadrunner Records. The original version of the album contains 11 tracks while there´s a limited digipack version available with 4 bonus tracks. Fear Factory would be heading into some difficult years as founding member guitarist Dino Cazares would leave the band after this release. So Digimortal is the last album to feature what many would probably call the "classic" Fear Factory lineup.

The music on Digimortal continues further down the more groovy alternative metal road that was initiated on Obsolete (1998). The songs are generally vers/ chorus based 3 to 4 minute long tracks with a strong emphasis on brick heavy groovy riffing and the occassional use of futuristic sounding synth effects. There are lots of precise technical playing on display too though and especially drummer Raymond Herrera puts on quite a show. The vocals vary from aggressive to raw to clean. Lead vocalist Burton C. Bell is not as such a great singer, but he understands how to economize his voice and his performance here is strong and personal. The songs are all quality compositions and if you enjoy your music hard hitting and groove based, Digimortal certainly delivers. The alternative metal touch gets an extra nod in the song Back the Fuck Up, which features rap vocals.

The production is clean and professional. Triggered drums and lots of power.

Digimortal is a very succesful album in terms of consistency and powerful delivery, but evaluating the album I´ve come to the conclusion that the album lacks real highlights. All songs are more or less great, but there´s nothing on Digimortal that really stands out as excellent. It´s of course a matter of taste, but I miss some death/ thrash metal parts in the music too. A 3.5 star rating is deserved. Digimortal is a good album, but it doesn´t reach the hights of the first three albums by the band IMO.

UMUR Obsolete is the 3rd full-length studio album by American death/ industrial/ alternative metal act Fear Factory. The album was released in July 1998 by Roadrunner Records. The original album contains 10 tracks while the limited edition digi-pack features 5 bonus tracks. The album has sold enough albums to be certified gold, which is actually quite the achivement for an album this extreme. But it says a lot about how popular Fear Factory were in those years.

The music is a combination of futuristic death metal, industrial elements and alternative/ NU-metal. There´s actually an organic edge to the sound on the album that was definitely not present on the predecessor Demanufacture (1995). We´re still talking triggered bass drums and a polished production though, so the word organic shouldn´t be misinterpreted here. The lyrics on the album featueres a sci-fi concept story about the Edgecrusher and his struggles for freedom in a totalitarian machine dominated world sometime in the future ( 2076 A.D to be exact). It´s like reading a Philip K. Dick novel. personally I love sci-fi lyrics so this is right down my alley. In addition to the lyrics there are explanations to each song, which is a really great help if you want to understand and follow the story. So there´s a bleak and sinister sci-fi atmoshere on the album and the music follows suit. Not that Obsolete is the darkest album that I´ve ever heard, but the point is that the lyrics and the music suit each other well.

Obsolete adds some alternative and groove based heavy riffing to Fear Factory´s industrialized death metal style that some people might have a hard time appreciating. I know it took me many years before I really gave the album a chance, after initially having dismissed it as too alternative for my ears. I wanted the cold and harsh sound from Demanufacture back and wasn´t ready to accept that the band had changed. In retrospect I guess I´m a bit conservative, because listening to Obsolete today it´s actually a pretty good album and what I used to think of as NU-metal heavy groove based riffing has now become acceptable and in some cases even enjoyable. Well... sort of. There are still elements that I don´t enjoy much on the album, but it´s hard to deny that it´s a quality metal album in every sense of the word. My favorites here are probably Securitron (Police State 2000) and Descent but all songs are of a high quality. I´m not sure Burton C. Bell´s limited clean vocal range should have tried forces with the closing ballad track Timelessness though. He is way out of his league on that track and struggles to keep the pitch. His vocal performance on this album is otherwise pretty good, allthough he will never be a really good clean vocalist IMO. He´s got a charm to his performance though and a unique style and that saves much. When he does harsher clean vocals like he does in Descent, the outcome is much more positive if you ask me.

So all in all Obsolete is a very good album by Fear Factory and while it certainly isn´t a favorite of mine by the band, I still think a 3.5 - 4 star rating is deserved. I just can´t deny quality.

UMUR Mechanize is the 8th full-length studio album ( if you count Concrete (2002) as a "real" album) by American death/ thrash/ industrial metal act Fear Factory. The album was released in February 2010 by AFM/ Candlelight Records. Mechanize was released after a 5 year recording break and hosts several lineup changes. Lead vocalist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares patched up their differences and decided to work together again. The latter had left Fear Factory after the release of Digimortal (2001) after disputes with the former. Bassist Byron Stroud, who had worked with Fear Factory since 2003, was asked to join the reformed band and drummer extraordinaire Gene Hoglan was asked to fill the drum seat. Alledgedly this lineup started working as a project and only later decided to use the Fear Factory name. Something that former guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers and former drummer Raymond Herrera weren´t asked about to their great discontentment. They´ve filed a lawsuit.

Well with all the nasty business details out of the way it´s of course the music most people are interested in. The music on the album is unmistakably the sound of Fear Factory. The hard edged mechanical death/ thrash riffing, the industrial elements and Burton C. Bell´s harsh, growling and clean vocal styles have always been the core of Fear Factory´s music style and continue to be so on Mechanize. The addition of new drummer Gene Hoglan and the return of Dino Cazares means a lot for the sound though. No one should take away from Raymond Herrera that he is a great and very techncially skilled drummer, but there´s just something really special about Gene Hoglan. In otherwise mechanical and razor sharp music he is actually able to add a human touch to his playing that is greatly appreciated in my world. Other than that he just adds so many intriguing details to the music that I´m just breathtaken. The man is a true powerhouse. The fact that Dino Cazares is back is also very audible. The quality of the guitar riffs is simply much higher than on the last two albums Archetype (2004) and Transgression (2005) where he wasn´t a part of the lineup. While those albums are not bad as such, the band sounded a bit tired IMO. Thankfully the lineup changes seem to have revitalized the band because Mechanize is like a kick in the ass. I mean this is really an aggressive album. Fear Factory sound like they mean it and that´s one of the most important elements in making a succesful album.

The 44:43 minute long album presents us with 10 tracks. It´s not like the band invent the wheel or anything like that during the playing time but the songwriting is inspired, the musicianship is outstanding and to top it off the production is sharp and powerful. One of the things I greatly enjoy about Mechanize is that the songs are not too formulaic. There´s a nice development in the songs and even though most feature memorable choruses, there´s always a surprise middle section, and outro or other changes in structure to make the songs interesting. The album is pretty varied too. While songs like Industrial Discipline and Fear Campaign feature clean sung and memorable choruses you also have a song like Christploitation which is quite a raw track with mostly harsh vocals. The album is brought to a great end with the closing track Final Exit.

Mechanize has really surprised me in a positive way. I expected another run of the mill yet high quality Fear Factory album but got a powerful monster instead. I say this is a great comeback album and a 4.5 star rating is warranted. Mechanize might be the best album that Fear Factory have released since Demanufacture (1995).

UMUR Soul of a New Machine is the debut full-length studio album by American death/ industrial metal act Fear Factory. The album was released in September 1992 by Roadrunner Records. Soul of a New Machine was re-released in October 2004 as a digipack with the Fear is the Mindkiller (1993) EP as bonus. While Andrew Shives is credited as playing bass on the album, Soul of a New Machine was actually recorded by the trio of Burton C. Bell on vocals, Dino Cazares on Guitars and Bass and Raymond Herrera on Drums. The loads of samples on the album are credited to Otis.

The music on Soul of a New Machine is influenced by death metal/ grindcore in the vein of Napalm Death and harsh industrial metal like Godflesh. Add to that technical precision playing on a high level and the outcome is actually quite unique. The fact that Burton C. Bell sang clean vocal parts in addition to his more brutal harsh growling was considered very original in 1992. Soul of a New Machine is one of the earliest examples of mixing growling and clean vocals. This was something new and fresh on a death metal scene that had already started to stagnate a bit. Songs like Martyr, Scapegoat, Scumgrief and Self Immolation were simply something that people hadn´t heard before.

The album is produced by Colin Richardson who creates the right raw and industrial feel for the songs. The production tends to be a bit too muddy in the fast parts, but on the other hand it´s actually pretty great that the sound is not too polished.

The first time I was exposed to Fear Factory was when they supported Cannibal Corpse on the tour where the latter promoted Tomb of the Mutilated (1992). I had never heard about Fear Factory before and therefore didn´t have any expectations to how they would sound. They more than delivered though and I remember being spellbound by their sound. Those clean vocal parts were something unique and new and the tight almost mechanical playing greatly intrigued me too. The headliners paled in comparison. Not long after that show I purchased my copy of Soul of a New Machine. Listening to Soul of a New Machine is therefore always a nostalgic trip down memory lane. I think the album has aged a bit though and not always in a positive way so while it´s definitely a seminal album that will never leave my collection a 3.5 - 4 star rating is warranted. If you had asked me back when Soul of a New Machine was released I would have given the album a full 5.