FEAR FACTORY: Obsolete

Produced by Fear Factory, Rhys Fulber and Greg Reely

Released: 1998

Demanufacture established Fear Factory as a successfully innovative band, merging heavy and relentless death metal riffing and ceaseless drumming with injections of cleaner vocals and dark industrial elements. By the time of Obsolete, this basic blueprint had already been imitated across the metal sphere to the point where Fear Factory themselves had to adapt a new gameplan in order to keep ahead of their copyists.

A more creative use of keyboards, the introduction of some symphonic elements, a deeper immersion into Demanufacture's only hinted-at visions of the future and the stripping back of the band's death metal overtones in favour of a more commercial style are the defining aspects of this album. Dino Cazares' riffs aren't that different from before (for example the main descending motif from "Descend" is exactly the same as the main riff from "Replica", but slower) and may indeed be even simpler, but they are catchy and mostly effective and with the added bottom end afforded by his adoption of a seven-string guitar. Raymond Herrera's machine-like drumming is also a familiar feature, but here and there he adds an off-time beat like in "Obsolete". However, the album is really driven by vocalist Burton Bell. His clean singing is as processed as before, perhaps even more so, but instead of the robotic, hate machine roar of Demanufacture, his other voice here is quite raw, giving it a more human quality that is in keeping with the album's concept and that of its main character. For Obsolete is a concept album, and a meticulously conceived one at that.

Expanding on the themes the previous volume only hinted at, Obsolete works as a three act drama with the dissident Edgecrusher as the protagonist, escaping from authority only to be ruthlessly hunted down and eventually recaptured by the forces of the Securitron, his attempted insurgence brutally crushed. In this respect, Obsolete is an even more bleak vision than Demanufacture, which at least ended on a hopeful note. Concept albums are renowned for falling flat, but this one works due to the fact that at this point of their career, Fear Factory was still a fearsome songwriting force with only "Hi-Tech Hate" really coming down on the ordinary side. Elsewhere, while Cazares' riffs are almost unashamedly recycled, the inherent catchiness allows him to get away with it. As mentioned earlier however, Bell owns Obsolete as he characterises the various players from the storyline with surprising emotion and passion for an album of this kind. Evoking exactly the right amount of despair, this is nowhere better illustrated than in "Descent" and, later, "Resurrection" where the Edgecrusher is left to contemplate his failure.

Overall Obsolete may not be quite as successful as its predecessor, but it is still a powerful and heavy album that isn't afraid to take a few chances and proved it could be done. Alas, it was after this that Fear Factory seemed to abruptly run out of ideas, or, perhaps more correctly, run out of good ways to re-present the same ideas.

1. Shock
2. Edgecrusher
3. Smasher/Devourer
4. Securitron (Police State 2000)
5. Descent
6. Hi-Tech Hate
7. Freedom or Fire
8. Obsolete
9. Resurrection
10. Timelessness

Rating: 85%