Search - Fear Factory :: Archetype

An Awesome comeback!

Y. Jossa | NJ | 08/23/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have been an early fan of Fear Factory, since the days of "Soul of a New Machine" thinking they were doing something original: mixing death-styled vocals with clean melodic singing, machine-like industrial percussion with detuned grindcore guitars.

All these elements mixed together are almost necessary for young metal bands today, but back in the early 1990s, they were unheard of.



Fear Factory were basically the precursors of "nu" and other types of modern metal music, long before such things existed.



After their great 1995 Roadrunner album "Demanufacture" the band were on the verge of a major breakthrough that would catapult them to the next level, but, perharps sensing this, their songwriting and direction took a wrong turn with the "Obsolete" and "Digimortal" albums, which were basically uninspired affairs with a more "accessible" sound.



Then the band had a bitter break-up with guitarist and founding member Dino Cazares, and disintegrated.

Cazares, who also formed Grindcore project band Brujeria with members of Faith No More and Napalm Death, was basically the architect of the band's sound, so most fans, including myself, had pretty much given Fear Factory for dead, specially after the band was dumped by Roadrunner and it was rumored to have reformed sans Cazares, with bassist Christian Olde Wolbers as his replacement.



Fortunately, i was wrong.

The new Fear Factory album "Archetype," not only crushes "Obsolete" and "Digimortal" in terms of intensity and songwriting, but it sounds like a worthy successor to "Demanufacture."

All of the elements that made Fear Factory such a great band are back: the relentless machine-like drumming, the mixed vocals, the intensity and great, memorable songs, paired with some new-found anger, undoubtely inspired by the band's dealings with their former label Roadrunner.



Fear Factory have something prove, and they certainly sound like they do, and we can thank them for providing the fans with an awesome album."