Album Review: Genexus by Fear Factory

From their trademark staccato riffing and industrial trimmings to frontman Burton C Bell’s aggressive-melodic vocals, Fear Factory were way ahead of the game when they released their classic Demanufacture album 20 years ago – and Genexus demonstrates how firmly tethered to the cutting edge Fear Factory remain. The best-sounding album of their career by some margin, this is a precise and vicious rush of syncopated kick drums, sci-fi keyboard surges and eerie but infectious vocal hooks, all underpinned by guitarist Dino Cazares’ flawless attack. In less capable hands, the likes of Anodized and Soul Hacker would be sterile, robotic and cold, but whether due to Bell’s chest-rattling delivery or the simple fact that they still sound utterly unique, Fear Factory exude real authority, resulting in their finest album in two decades and a timely reminder that when man and machine collide, the outcome can be both joyous and devastating.

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Review Summary: This time more melodic and accessible, Dino Cazares and Burton C. Bell prove that they still have what it takes to make a visceral Fear Factory album.Fear Factory’s music is pretty recognizable. Just about any song in their discography is going to feature drums in lockstep with chugging guitar riffs, sporadic industrial influences, and Burton C.

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On 2012's The Industrialist, Fear Factory offered up a pseudo-sci-fi/apocalypse-driven conceptual album that hit all of the right notes (with extreme prejudice) but did very little in the way of updating the seminal decibel-pushers' relentlessly precision-based brand of industrial metal. Genexus, the group's ninth studio long-player and first outing for Nuclear Blast, largely follows suit, but the inclusion of a live drummer (Mike Heller) on a few key tracks signals that Fear Factory may be a little bit more willing to disengage themselves from the autopilot in the hopes of steering the ship into the sun (in a badass metal way) themselves. More melody-driven than prior outings, Genexus nevertheless retains the band's penchant for pairing bleak science fiction imagery with piston-like, palm-muted guitar riffs and explosive percussion.

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Latest album from industrial metal pioneers. Formed in Los Angeles in 1989, Fear Factory specialise in a sort of cyber-fusion. What they play is essentially heavy metal, with all its pomp and ritual, ceremony and chundering, stentorian, histrionic self-importance. However, it’s metal as if played with bionic limbs, electronically assisted with the devices that always gave industrial music the edge over Marshall stacks.

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