FEAR FACTORY — Transgression (review)

FEAR FACTORY — Transgression album cover

Album · 2005 · Industrial Metal

3/5 · 2011-01-22
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.