It’s been quite some time since I’ve listened to new Fear Factory material, roughly 10 years I guess. & while an ardent Gene Hoglan fan I neglected to get any FF while he was in the band. Guess I need to rectify that, but that said Mike Heller has done an amazing job filling his & Raymond Herrera’s shoes and Andy Sneap has managed to get the snap of the taut snare to cut through everything else every time it’s pounded, with the kick drum sounding just as sharp. Having been touring with the band for 3 years now, he finally gets to be on a recording. Also joining Dino Cazares & Burton C. Bell is new bassist Tony Campos, who has a pretty impressive CV & seems to fit right in without an issue. Unless that’s just because Dino played the bass on the album.
Album opener “Autonomous Combat System” starts sedately with what could be the opening soundscape of a sci-fi movie, but once the drums kick in, literally, you know this is Fear Factory. Burton’s harsh vocals immediately fill your ears over Dino’s choppy riffs and while the riffs keep time with the rapidly descending snare pounding stick, the vocals vary between acerbic and soothingly melodic in the same way they have for the past 20 years.
The clicky kick drum and squawking synth introduce “Anodized” but it’s the wall of guitar sound that hits you in chest and shall entrance you with its layers of brute force and melody as they entwine and work their way under your skin.
They’ve been promoting the video for “Dielectric” a while now & it’s a great sampler of what to expect from the album. It has pretty much everything here. Burton’s alternating clean and death vocals, Mike’s incessant snare pounding & uberfast triplets on the kick-drums and Dino’s dynamic riff changes going from as heavy as he is to melodic without dropping a note.
“Soul Hacker” shall be the new “Shock” in the way it’ll get a venue bouncing with its mid-paced groove orientated riffs and seemly slow drumming, when compared to what comes next.
The chorus on “Protomech” shall have everyone singing it at full pelt alternating between the harsh & clean vocals, but in all likelihood without anywhere near as much harmony as Burton, but possibly just as much aggression.
Title track “Genexus” has that distinct Rhys Fulber industrial touch to the background sounds under Dino’s choppy groove and the staccato drumming with Burton swapping between clean and death vocals with ease.
“Church Of Execution” is a short track with plenty of punch as it waxes & wanes with the mellow bridges making the heavier verses all that much heavier.
While “Regenerate” seems to start off rather gently, it quickly has the guitars & drums working frantically to dissuade you of that illusion, but Burton’s soaring vocals keep bringing back the harmonies that soften their edge, but when he roars aggressively everything feels right.
The staccato guitar & blistering drum triplets on “Battle For Utopia” are emphasised by the drawn out keyboard notes filling out the sound completely and give the vocals two distinct melodies to follow, which they do.
The final track, aptly titled “Expiration Date”, is a haunting near 9 minutes with plenty of slow piano & ambient sound effects by Rhys accompanying Burton’s clean melodic singing until it quietly fades out to white noise.
What I like best is the way the album has all the clear Fear Factory trademarks of aggression tempered with harmony and the ever-present sci-fi undercurrent that their industrial sound exemplifies for me.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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