Fear Factory

[buckaroo]

I love this band and can’t wait for the new album. That being said, the drama that has followed them for years is tiring. Honestly, how many times has Burton quit now? Is this the third? How much fighting between the two of them has there been? I wish Burton all the luck in the world with AotW, but I assume within a few years he will be back. I know there is a lot of negative press around Dino right now, but based on past experience I don’t think he is the one causing all the issues.

Also, I would take another Divine Heresy album over more Fear Factory at this point.

[rampface]

Fear Factory should have broken up after Obsolete and they would be considered legends. Each subsequent album ruined their legacy

[Maximilian]

Yeah, Burton seems kind of wishy-washy, always has. I follow Dino on Twitter and he is always trying to be as diplomatic as possible, but maybe he's an asshole behind the scenes. Who knows? What I do know is that Ascension of the Watchers isn't going to pay Burton's bills.

[buckaroo]

Fear Factory should have broken up after Obsolete and they would be considered legends. Each subsequent album ruined their legacy

After Obsolete they fell into the up and down of every other album. Archetype, Mechanize and Genexus were all excellent in my opinion. The rest have their moments. I really think Digimortal could have been great with a little editing, grittier production and more organic sounding drums.

[rampface]

And less following the nu metal trend. Some of those tracks have aged poorly. I almost included that album in my original statement.

[richardp]

Fear Factory should have broken up after Obsolete and they would be considered legends. Each subsequent album ruined their legacy

I'd disagree with this. Transgression and Digimortal are really the only albums of theirs that aren't "credible" or whatever. If anything ruined Fear Factory's legacy, it was every single dude in that band's unwarranted ego.

[Shadaloo]

Half of verything after Digimortal seemed to be basically Demanufacture 2.0, and those were the years where I was kinda leaving my high school metal tastes behind and getting into Bauhaus, The Cure, Bowie, Joy Division.

I remember the reception to Digimortal was pretty universally not a good one, and I've long felt that discouraged them from much in the way of experimentation.

Hot take though: I enjoyed Transgression. Maybe the U2 cover was a bit of a misstep, but fuck, when you also cover Killing Joke you've more than paid your dues!

[Shadaloo]

Good listen, start at half an hour in. Dino gives a history of the longstanding legal snafus surrounding the name. Says the lawsuits filed against them by Herrera and Wolbers basically bankrupted both himself and Burton for a while, and now he's wound up buying the rights to the name from Burton, making him the sole owner.

[richardp]

What's the point in even owning it at this point. Literally the only way FF is ever going to see any kind of comeback is if the 4 of them grew up and got back together. I don't think anyone is going to care about a Fear Factory that is just Dino and friends.

[richardp]

Aggressive Continuum is out there, finally. It's pretty damn good for a final FF album (as far as I'm concerned FF isn't FF without Burton). I'd compare it's sound I suppose to Digimortal if it wasn't as Nu-Metal infused as it is. I don't know. I'm enjoying it.

[Jinsai]

I ran a session w/ Dino. He is a really really nice guy, and yeah, he can shred. It's crazy.

[richardp]

New version of The Industrialist is out now with real drums and good lord does it make a difference.

[buckaroo]

New version of The Industrialist is out now with real drums and good lord does it make a difference.

I am really glad they did this. The updated drums, guitar, and mix are great. What did it for me was adding Enhanced Reality though. I always felt this album was extremely underrated and felt like it was missing something. New version is so much better!

[Shadaloo]

New version of The Industrialist is out now with real drums and good lord does it make a difference.

Thanks for the heads-up. Mine arrives tomorrow.

This is one of those bands, like KMFDM, that I kept up with more out of a sense of nostalgia and loyalty. Every now and then I get in the mood and while the last...what, four albums? never really strayed from a formula, they're always nice to revisit every few years.

They were my first concert. I saw Static-X open for them on the Obsolete tour...a few months back they came and it was the reverse, and something about that made me really sad. I couldn't bring myself to go.

[richardp]

They were my first concert. I saw Static-X open for them on the Obsolete tour...a few months back they came and it was the reverse, and something about that made me really sad. I couldn't bring myself to go.

My first concert as well. The Fear Factory/Static-X tour was in town the same day as Coal Chamber's Livin' La Vida Loco tour so they got combined. That ended up being the only time I ever saw Static-X, but I got to see FF one more time opening for Slipknot on the Jagermeister tour right after Archetype came out. God Forbid and Chimaira were also on that tour but their bus broke down so FF played for an hour and fifteen minutes instead and it was great.