production is nasty... its heavy heavy heavy. very powerful sounding bass drum trigger. makes everything together very crushing. its like... umm... Archetype/Divine Heresey mixed. very Fear Factory, It's what Transgression wished it sounded like.
BTW... Transgression gets a lot of hate, but under the shit production lies a pretty heavy album that is really decent if you have a great EQ on your stereo or s great DSP plugin on your Winamp.
I was hoping for a pre-obsolete sound but didn't expect it one bit.
I don't think you're ever going to get that sound back.
post by Spaldino at Dec 19,2009 7:35pm
why? i personally really like this album a lot. almost more than Demanufacture. a band needs to progress anyway. sounding the same gets fucking boring. look at Belphegor. they dont change at all, and the music is still good and all but its sort of stale.
I just realized that this fear factory is with Dino and is technically a separate band from the Archetype era fear factory. But to compare this to Transgression, this is better.
post by Spaldino at Dec 20,2009 12:09am
when i said the opening track being one that was kicking my ass... i wasnt lying... but i was actually talking about "Industrial Discipline". the title track/opener is really awesome too.
Very awesome from what I've heard. Holy shit, they use scales and even a solo. This is the only recording from them that I have dug since Demanufacture.
I've been digging this a lot. It's definitely not your typical FF release. And brodown, just do a google search for a blogspot, someone's bound to be hosting it.
I've been digging this a lot. It's definitely not your typical FF release. And brodown, just do a google search for a blogspot, someone's bound to be hosting it.
This album is fantastic. If you don't like Fear Factory this won't change your mind because it's still very much so a Fear Factory album, but I think there are a lot more interesting parts on this album and as mentioned it is heavy as hell. Also, MikeOfDecrepitude is correct, "Designing the Enemy" is fucking awesome.
i'm very happy to read these reviews, i'd love a good solid Fear Factory album to come out.
post by ZenErik at Dec 21,2009 7:29pm edited Dec 21,2009 7:29pm
Giving it a listen now. First track is pretty sweet. I love Obsolete (yay for songs in major) and most of Demanufacture. :P
post by ZenErik at Dec 21,2009 7:45pm edited Dec 21,2009 7:46pm
I've just been skipping through the tracks, but "Designing The Enemy" caught my attention. Got some nice bend riffage. I think the vocals on the album may be a bit overproduced, but other than that, very solid. Could do without the demon sounding narration in a few tracks.
I don't really agree with that. Yeah, he has had off nights, but usually every time I saw them, he sounded great. I like the contrast between their albums and the live performances.
I'm thinking this is the only album by them, besides Obsolete, that I can sit all the way through. Demanufacture is also excellent, but I always want to at least skip the "Dog Day Sunrise" cover. If not "New Breed" and A Therapy For Pain" too.
really? i love the "Dog Day Sunrise" cover. i actually like it more than the original, Burton's voice does so well with it.
WHHHAAAATTTT? You can't touch "Dustbowl" and HOD is one of the greats. Sure, I like the cover okay, but the original...so good as is the entire record. The two versions are night/day with the original coming in foist. Hands down.
one thing about TF2 is i don't think there's a friendly fire option, i've never seen a server where it's on. shooting teammates for spy checks is very common, and considering the chaos of battles you would teamkill all the time. the only way to FF is if someone stands in your team's sentry gun line of fire.
i think i've always unfairly grouped them with slipknot, mudvayne, etc. so i'll give em another shot.
they are always unfairly grouped with shite like this. they preceded all of this by many years. they definitely don't get their due credit. i like how they never claimed to be anything they weren't, like death or something like that, they just did what they did and if you liked it, great, if you didn't, great. another thing though, i could imagine it being more difficult to get into them now, at a later age. i was 16 when i got Demanufacture in 97, so it was new and i was an impressionable teenager. it was waaaaaaaaay different then.
i'm really excited for this, i heard a single and it was awesome, but mainly because of the reactions i've read from people who seem to like the same things about Fear Factory that i do.
a band needs to progress anyway. sounding the same gets fucking boring. look at Belphegor. they dont change at all, and the music is still good and all but its sort of stale.
theyve actually got riffs that ive been struggling to play now, and among other things theres like 5 tracks on the newest album without any blastbeats. That may not make them any better, but id say its a pretty honorable attempt at progressing and not sounding stale on Belphegors behalf. i cant wait to hear this new fear factory when i get back
Controlled Demolition is my pick for best tune after my initial listen through. Fucking 8 strings sound insane. production is sick too. Hoglan is > Ray. Fact. They definitely progressed and this record is a return to form triumph imho.
If anything it sounds like Burton has upped the anger and aggression. As far as I know, AOTW is now on the back burner. He's currently involved in City of Fire with Byron Stroud. Haven't heard anything but a short sample which sounded promising.
You're talking to someone that's bias, since they're a band I grew up idolizing. I think it's a great album and a real credit to Burton and Dino as a creative force. I think they've produced a quality album that sees them reinventing the FF aesthetic.
Digimortal can definitely be viewed as a misstep in their career but the fact remains that FF has always been interested in genres outside of metal. They were always fans of electronic music and hip hop, so I actually give them props for experimenting as they saw fit.
so this album fucking rules. i'm so happy with it, it's got that lost aggression but also retains some of the new feel from Archetype. some of it sounds almost like Meshuggah too. all of the tracks are solid, it has classic FF ending songs, Burton actually took time to place clean vocals instead of cramming them in every song, and Gene Hoglan brings an incredible dynamic to the drums. he does everything Raymond Herrera would do, and then some. i have no complaints at all. my favorite tracks are "Powershifter", "Designing the Enemy", "Controlled Demolition", and "Christploitation". though that hardly means the other tracks are any less awesome.
Fear Factory and Prong will be teaming up for a U.S. run together which will kick off in late May and run through to around mid-June. Dates announced thus far can be found below:
June 04th Worcester, MA – The Palladium
June 05th Hartford, CT – The Webster
I think the vocals on the album may be a bit overproduced, but other than that, very solid. Could do without the demon sounding narration in a few tracks. 
