•
Rating:
Some works are more important for what they represented, for the following they created, than for the actual value of their content. For such works, it seems spontaneous, almost inevitable, to conduct a retrospective analysis, taking into account the events following their publication: the impact they caused, the artistic evolutions of their authors, comparisons with subsequent works, and so on. In this category we also find the subject of the review: conceived between 1990-91, "Concrete" was supposed to be the debut of Fear Factory, but due to a dispute between the band and the then-producer Ross Robinson, it didn’t see the light until 2002. Upon further reflection, since it was released when the band had already produced their best works, one can also afford to review it in hindsight.
Going into the specifics of the dispute, the young Fear Factory were not happy with their contract and were attracted to Roadrunner, a prestigious label dedicated to metal. The band won the rights to the songs, allowing them to re-record them as they pleased (six new versions were included in the first official full-length, "Soul Of A New Machine" of 1992, and others were revisited throughout their career), while Robinson, on his part, won the rights to the album. Only in 2002, when the group was already disbanded (the reunion, with some line-up changes, took place in 2004), did Roadrunner acquire the recordings from the now well-established producer and assembled this product to fulfill the terms of the contract, which required another album: needless to say, it was a shamelessly commercial operation and the controversies didn’t lack.
The refined ferocity compacted by the production and innervated with technology; the conscious use of electronics and keyboards; the presence of choruses that are not only singable but also memorable, as an alternative to the death verses; the tight and dizzying rhythmic symbiosis between guitar and double kick: these are the constituent elements of an unmistakable and highly influential style, exemplified by the masterpiece "Demanufacture" (1995) and the subsequent and slightly less valid "Obsolete" (1998). In "Concrete," these elements are in a primordial stage: the melodic choruses consist of monotonous, whiny vocalizations, sometimes off-key, and it is clear that Burton C. Bell's voice is unripe; technological infiltrations are entirely absent, yet in compensation, the drums and guitar already interact, albeit their cohesion needs improvement. In light of what has happened in the subsequent years, these pioneering attempts, albeit naive and a bit pretentious, can only be welcomed. "Self Immolation", so raw and straightforward, can be considered a precursor to "Replica" and "Edgecrusher", as well as a window into the future of extreme metal, which, a few years later, would merge into nu metal. But if one focuses solely on the listening plane and ignores any other sphere, it becomes clear that the most successful songs, largely located towards the end, are the most "traditional", and that the band feels more at ease when playing "just" a death metal that is intense and brutal, devoid of melodic interventions, and very inclined towards blast beat and grindcore (the thirty seconds of "Deception" are a burst worthy of Napalm Death).
Although for the most part characterized by the typical naiveties of a debuting group, "Concrete" is varied and interesting, despite the market intentions with which it came into being; maybe it is not entirely accurate to consider it an official album, as it is, but it is far more genuine than many other unofficial records (remixes, compilations, etc.) that are essentially useless and add nothing to the career of this great band (if anything, they inflate it).
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Big God / Raped Souls (02:37)
In America today, every 25 fucking seconds
someone is viciously raped, someone is brutally violated;
250 times a day, someone is murdered,
someone's life is taken,
In America; This is America, This is America,
and I love America,
I love America!
No remorse for the pain
Look into the eyes of death
Strong man cannot endure
Big god of this earth
Liar!
Big god, no god!
Take back this life
Give back this world
"Woe to you
of earth and sea"
Big god will always be
Liar!
Big god, no god!
Burn! Raped Souls:
God raped souls
Of our lives
Hammers crush all our lives
Just like clockwork
They'll crush our lives
02 Arise Above Oppression (01:57)
Rise above, rise above
Steal away to hide your shame
Rise above, rise above!
Rise above your oppression
Above the one that hates you
Above the one that lies
Above the pain that hates
Death! Fear! Rage!
Rise above your depression
Above the one that kills
Above the one that hates
Above all of the pain
Fear! Death! Rage!
Rise above, rise above
Rise above
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise above your oppression
Above the pain and suffering
Above the one that hates you
And kills you
Through all of your life
03 Concrete (02:28)
Hammer down
The sickness
Wipe it out
Of existence
Cut down infection
Cut down corruption
Scrape down
Wipe out
Concrete
Concrete [x2]
[Repeat first verse]
Scrape down
Wipe out
Cut down
04 Crisis (03:33)
You that I despise
Repentance of sorts
Death comes naturally
Not from a hated war
Repentance
Repentance of faith
Repentance of hope
Repentance of hate
Not my war
Soldiers marching on
Not my war
Soldiers marching on
On your feet!
Crisis at hand
On your feet soldier!
Crisis at hand
On your feet soldier!
On your feet motherfucker!
Crisis! Crisis! Crisis!
05 Escape Confusion (04:08)
From morality
A morbid animosity
Addicted to the epidemic
That deteriorates progression
Escape confusion
Escape animosity
Desperately washing away
The gore that's hidden beneath the dismay
Thoughts of eternal despair
And self hate
Escape confusion
Escape animosity
Terrorism within
Dreams become reality
Visions of hope
Attempt to escape
Attempt to escape
Attempt to escape the sickness!
Terror
Dreams become reality
Visions of hope
Attempt to escape
Attempt to escape
Attempt to escape the sickness!
Repeat 1st verse
11 Desecrate (02:38)
Desecrate the vows within
Sanctify all your fears
Desecrate the holy church
Desecrate
Fill the abyss
With you hatred
Slaughter my child
Before your eyes
Fill the abyss
With you hatred
Slaughter my child
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Drink his blood like wine
Taste his body like bread
He's not my god
He's - Not - My - God
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Drink his blood like wine
Taste his body like bread
He's not my god
He's - Not - My - God
Not my god!
Desecrate!
Not my god!
Desecrate!
12 Suffer Age (03:45)
Compressed youthful voices
Suffer age
Below John's floors
Spoilage
Lingering death
Gagging your fears
Dead in horror
Grizzly facial stare
Unbelievable atrocity
Hateful monstrosity
Draining scientific minds
Pathological deeds
Creator
Executionor
Heresy
God's vision destroyed
Sinister joker
Childhood dreams
Laughing corruption
Compressed youthful voices
Suffer age
Below John's floors
Spoilage
15 Piss Christ (02:41)
Who was the man, that some feared
That some believed?
He was the man that would save them
From the stifling hands of terror?
Hatred was confused by lies
Was his own entity, was his own destiny
Dragged through the streets
Crucifix, humilation
Was his own entity, was his own destiny
Betraying laws of mankind
So death come in the night
Why did the father not save his son?
Loading comments slowly
