And just like that, Fear Factory‘s back in the forefront of the industrial metal universe. The Los Angeles quartet’s had a bit of a tumultuous career, but the fact is: over the last 25 years, Fear Factory have created a distinctive, mechanical sound that we all recognize, whether we want to or not. And with their latest effort, Genexus, the band’s produced an album that will grab the attention of new followers while still doing the traditionalists proud.
It really isn’t worth getting into the number of changes the industrial giants have gone through over each of the past three decades, but it’s worth mentioning that this is the third release since the return of founding guitarist Dino Cazares. As an end result, Genexus ends up being one of the stronger recent efforts by Fear Factory, calling on a number of the elements that defined earlier albums like Digimortal, but still finding a way to fuse them with their more experimental — dare I say mainstream? — albums without Cazares in the mid-2000s. It’s certainly a favorable end product.
I have never really committed myself to Fear Factory fandom, and the reason for it is simply a lack of diversity in their catalogue. The song structure specifically has never really shown much development over the years. To some, that’s a good thing; why fix what isn’t broken? For others, it’s hard to keep interest. Unfortunately, we get the same trend here. Opening with “Autonomous Combat System,” we immediately get those definitive, dry-chugging chords and blast percussion, all layered with the word-by-word barking from Burton C. Bell that’s come to define virtually every song in the band’s discography. (And I’m not really exaggerating.) And without fail, this all transitions to a more melodic, almost electronic chorus. Which, as always, is catchy as hell. Hey, you can criticize their lack of diversity in song writing, but you can’t deny they do what they do well.
The songs are listenable overall and it’s easy to get caught up in the album’s energy. Tracks like “Anodized,” “Protomized,” and the title track(-ized) are all marked by nicely-layered keyboard harmonies over the standard Fear Factory brand of punishment, giving these tracks a nice symphonic flair to their abuse. The dry aggression in riffage on the likes of “Soul Hacker” and “Battle for Utopia” — especially in the earlier stages of the tracks — pays tribute to the influences the band called up in the late ’90s. And really, that kind of theme features throughout each track. No, Fear Factory is never going to change the way their songs are structured. And their rhythms can get boring from one track to another. But their specific take on industrial metal has clearly evolved into something as consistently epic as it is mechanical. Just look at the closer, “Expiration Date.” The slowly building electronics and ambient vocals show more uniqueness than anything else on Genexus. If you want something to wrap up a concept about man becoming slave to machines, this absolutely hits the nail on the head.
With Genexus, there really is something to be appreciated for all. It’s powerful, energizing, catchy, and even thought-provoking at times. The Fear Factory purists will find weird comfort in the tribute to the early days in this album’s consistent abuse and relentless pounding. Yet at the same time, those that found appreciation in the experimental sides of albums like Archetype, myself included, will notice some of those melodic elements, which really take this album a long way. Fear Factory will continue to play the same game they always have, but there is plenty of noticeable quality with what they have created in Genexus. Besides, it’s a concept about robot takeover… what’s not to like?
“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– Corey
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