Fear Factory - The Industrialist

Published May 26 2012

*=Staff's pick	The Industrialist* Recharger* New Messiah* God Eater Depraved Mind Murder Virus Of Faith Difference Engine Disassemble Religion Is Flawed Because Man Is Flawed Human Augmentation

Genre	Industrial Metal	Burton C. Bell	Vocals
Tracks	10	Dino Cazares	Guitar
Running time	49 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	AFM Records	Dino Cazares	Bass
Release	01 June 2012	Programmed	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboard
Producer	Fear Factory/Rhys Fulber
Similar artists	Ministry

Fear Factory, or in fact Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares, return with another album, two years past their latest release Mechanize, which also was the mark of the guitarist's return after an eight years absence. Since the recordings, the two former antagonists have added bassist Matt DeVries and drummer Mike Heller to complete the touring lineup.

The Industrialist is a concept album and also one of the albums I look most forward to during 2012. The band have promised us a better record than the, in my opinion, masterpiece Mechanize, whose outcome they weren't completely satisfied with for some odd reason, considering it's one of their absolute top albums up to date. Perhaps their best, even if Demanufacture has an emotional and nostalgic impact.

The album has vibes, tones, vocal parts, riffs, beats, effects, etc spanning through their whole career. I would say it's nothing random or just a sheer coincidence. The title track has verses with mechanical effects and could have been on Demanufacture or on Obsolete and with its chorus and drums it could have been on Mechanize. On God Eater, Bell sings like he did on their debut album, Soul Of A New Machine and New Messiah sounds a lot like the Transgression songs with its chorus. I could go on, but I don't want to bore you too much with this matter.

What about the quality of the songs then? As I stated above, my expectations were high and I must say that I'm not totally satisfied with the result. There are no songs that strike you like Powershifter and Fear Campaign did two years ago. The two last songs on the album are two minutes of effects respectively nine minutes with whispers and with mechanical and industrial distortions and noises, just there to make the ends of the conceptual story meet. In fact, you don't have to listen to them more than once, because they have no musical value whatsoever.

It's Fear Factory in every single second and in every single tone, even the blasting programed drums, whose rhythms and beats have many Mechanize similarities. Cazares' riffs are as cool, vital and brutal as ever and Bell's voice works okay in the studio, even if he has problems during their live performances nowadays.

I have listened to the album in its entirety several times and it is a good record, even if it doesn't reach the high Fear Factory standards. There's are some diversity on The Industrialist, but yet it feels like I've heard most of it before. This must not be a bad scenario however. You know what you will get, as Fear Factory still produce industrial, mechanical and powerful metal that drives right through your bones and marrow.