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Fear Factory: Obsolete

04/03/09 || Smalley

After giving us two rounds of wrathful, searing industrial metal on “Soul of a New Machine” and “Demanufacture”, Fear Factory pretty much split their fan base right in two with 1998s “Obsolete”, a much more, lets say, “relaxed” album than its predecessors. Sure, “Obsolete” continues the man vs. machine concept story from the first two, and there is the occasional flash of their old brilliance throughout the running time, but all that is dulled by a definite move towards mainstream conventions, which may explain why MTV choose this as their “heaviest album of 1998” (hardy har har). I admit, I loved the hell out this record upon first listen, and even though I’ve gradually enjoyed it less and less ever since, I will still defend it’s worthiness within Fear Factory’s body of work. Anyway, enough background, let’s get detailed…

Opener “Shock” is rather appropriately-titled, since any expectations by FF fans of more caveman-grunt vocals, furious riffing/drumming, and relentless tempos will be shattered upon hearing Burton C. Bell using a “hardcore”, pseudo-rapping style for the vocals, guitarist Dino Cazares going much easier with the riffage, and worst of all, the once-amazing Raymond Herrera sounding downright sedated behind his drum kit, at least compared to his old self. And although “Shock” marginally improves through a clean-vocals chorus, it’s simply too late to get rid of the sense that this is a band who has somewhat compromised their essence in exchange for success. Worse yet, it’s simply a boring song, and I can’t remember the last time I listened to it voluntarily.

“Edgecrusher” won’t please anyone who hated “Shock” (is that a… DJ I hear?!?), but fortunately for us, “Obsolete” begins to unveil its goodies (if sporadically) after this point, with the melodic approach that ruined the first two tracks ironically serving to create the albums very best. The heavier riffing and powerfully-soaring chorus of “Smasher/Devourer”, the bittersweet melody running through “Descent” (think of it as Fear Factory’‘s “Fade to Black”), and the beautiful power ballad(!) “Resurrection”, plus other good tracks, all serve to make me think FF hadn’t completely lost it on this record.

Also ironic is the fact that the tracks on the “Obsolete” digipack, most of which were previously recorded, unreleased material, are just plain better (and much heavier) than the original editions cuts, and get far more listens from me, despite existing outside of “Obsolete“s original concept. Even though the Wiseblood cover “0-0 (Where Evil Dwells)” drags heavily, “Soulwound”, “Messiah”, and
“Concreto” all rock hard, and I honestly prefer FFs cover of Gary Numan’s “Cars” to the original (don’t worry, they didn’t brutalize it or anything!). If the band had written all of “Obsolete” like the digipack tracks… so awesome.

Don’t think I’m giving “Obsolete” a ringing endorsement, though; in addition to the lame opening tracks, the tracks I haven’t mentioned yet bring the record down further, with “Securitron (Police State 2000)” being nothing more than a watered-down rehash of “H-K (Hunter-Killer)”, as well as boring, repetitive songwriting completely ruining “Freedom or Fire” and the title track. What you’re basically looking at with “Obsolete” is half of a solid concept album, along with some great digipack cuts, that unfortunately, don’t fit into the original albums flow.

However, I still don’t think all the hatred that I’ve seen for “Obsolete” from old-school FF fans (I’ve seen it called “one of the worst ten albums” ever made), is warranted, and I feel it’s far from being a worthless record. I hope I’ve convinced the haters to stop hating through the last few paragraphs, as well as sold the record for Fear Factory virgins (start off with their first two+“Archetype”, however), and though the honeymoon’s pretty much over between me and “Obsolete”, I can definitely say that I still have my fun with it.

7 not really the heaviest album of the years out of 10.

Released: 1998
Label: Roadrunner
Website: www.fearfactory.com
Fear Factory
Burton C. Bell: vocals
Dino Cazares: guitar
Christian Olde Wolbers: bass
Raymond Herrera: drums

Tracklist
01. Shock
02. Edgecrusher
03. Smasher/Devourer
04. Securitron (Police State 2000)
05. Descent
06. Hi-Tech Hate
07. Freedom or Fire
08. Obsolete
09. Resurrection
10. Timelessness
11. Cars [Gary Numan cover]
12. O-O (Where Evil Dwells) [Wiseblood cover]
13. Soulwound
14. Messiah
15. Concreto

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