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).