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The album that brought success and popularity to Californian band Fear Factory is actually “Obsolete.” Born in the early ’90s, the Los Angeles-based band debuted in the metal world with “Soul of a New Machine,” creating a sort of fusion between death – thrash – industrial metal. This is precisely the sound present in the band's 5th (better said, 3rd) work. The only novelties are a much more “commercial” sound and better production compared to previous records, thanks to the label Roadrunner. The album is well set with fairly strong rhythms and tempos. The powerful energy released at times by the album is very reminiscent of Machine Head.
The songs that really stand out are “Shock,” which opens (in every sense) the record; aggressive and full of hate is “Hi-tech hate,” which together with “Freedom on fire” and “Obsolete,” can be called true and complete “heavy” tracks. In fact, the rest of the record contains songs in which restrained riffs and rhythms alternate with direct and devastating explosions of violence, paired with the singer’s growls. Bell Burton’s performance is, indeed, very inconsistent; his growls are very powerful and wicked, but when (quite often, I’d say...) he presents his “clean” voice, it’s painful: abominable, slow, and not intense at all.
The total lack of solos, nu-metal style, further diminishes the album and the group. In fact, the two guitarists Dino Cazares (now an ex-member, having moved to Brujeria) and Christian Wolbers, along with bassist Andrei Shives and drummer Raymond Herrera, produce merely decent music. The album features many “metropolitan” effects, in urban violence style and police radio transmissions. The lyrics are mainly inspired by such “rebellious effects.” It’s a decent album that starts and explodes infrequently and with rare continuity, but when it does, it becomes a whole different music.
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