The heralded reunion of vocalist/conceptualist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares shows the band with a renewed sense of urgency and power, and sounds every bit as incendiary as their early industrial-metal works from the 90's. With producer and keyboardist Rhys Fulber (of Front Line Assembly) also returning, the title track is an extremely tight screamer that brilliantly showcases all of Fear Factory's trademarks -- Bell's gutteral-to-melodic singing voice, downtuned surgical-steel guitars, inhuman drumming (thanks to Dethklok/Strapping Young Lad drum-deity Gene Hoglan), and deeply cinematic electronic effects for mood. The tempo is unrelenting on "Industrial Discipline", which could be an out-take from the band's classic 1995 album "Demanufacture". It's a maelstrom of entangled metal wires and diodes punctuating the eerie yet hard-hitting instrumental "Metallic Division", too. And "Final Exit" is an epic 8-minute closer, with regal melodic breakdowns that give way to blindingly potent thrash around the edges. Killer stuff. My theory as to Fear Factory's staying power is that so many metal bands are afraid to stray too far from the genre, whereas these guys have taken bits of everything from indie noise/rock to electronica and techno, gene-spliced it to raging industrial death metal, and in effect, helped to create a new sound. It's nice to have them back. This is a grand return to form. (Candlelight Records USA)Fear Factory site
Fear Factoryspace
Burton's Ascension Of The Watcherspace
Fear Factory - Fear Campaign
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