THE FACELESS:

• Akeldama (2006) Quite a number of styles mix together to form the aptly named The Faceless, who have yet to reveal to us their true face, but are more than happy to reveal the faces of their influences. Lets go down the list, Job For A Cowboy for the overall heaviness and atmosphere, Between the Buried And Me for some of the zanier bits, Devolved for both the drum sound and general drum style, Cannibal Corpse for the vocals, Necrophagist for some of the lightning fast unison guitar scales, Meshuggah for some of the odd time signatures, Theory In Practice for some of the symphonic bits and general atmosphere, Fred Thordendal's Special Defects for some of the intros and solos. All great spots to be influenced from, thankfully the songs are really strong, which helps keep everything together. The sound is spectacular, the performance is just insane, this group is tight and the material they're playing is tough. My favorite track on the album has to be the title track instrumental, which I've been listening to again and again, it sounds like what Dream Theater's 'Erotomania' would sound like if it had been played by Meshuggah. This is a fantastic album, and I'm so glad a reader pointed the band out to me. My only complaint would be that the group needs a little more consistency. They pull lots of elements from their influences, but they need to be a little more choosy about how they work them all into the music to avoid sounding too all over the map (it doesn't help that there appears to be 4 different drummers who perform on this CD). However, this is the band's debut, so I'll just have to assume that things will improve with time and experience. Damn impressive material, a must buy.
• Planetary Duality (2008) On its way towards greatness, but fell just short. Overall, it's the same mix of styles from their last CD, excellent musicianship, excellent production. Insane speed and tightness. The songs are well written, with just enough uniqueness to let each song stand on it's own two feet. The vocals are 99% death metal growling with a few extra uses of that electronic speak'n'spell voice, and some clean vocals, but both are used wisely. I have two small beefs with the album. First, it's way too short, just over 30 min, and 3 of the songs are basically intros as opposed to full compositions. Second, while most of the riffs are awesome, there's just a couple that sound sort of generic. If they'd replaced the generic ones with stuff as strong as the rest of the album, "Planetary Duality" would be an instant classic. But it's still a really great album, not quite as good as their last, but absolutely worth the cash.
• Autotheism (2012) My first impression on hearing this album (and apparently the first impression of a lot of people) was "Wow, this is really different". But upon multiple listens, I realized that really all of the things they're doing here are things they've done on other albums, it's just this album accentuates them more. It's like how Dream Theater says some of their albums lean a little closer towards metal, and some lean a little closer toward their progressive elements. Well, the same thing has happened here. First, the more theatrical aspects of their music are at full force, I mean, it does start with a 3 part song in the progressive style. Then, expect a lot more waltz, similar to their song 'Legion Of The Serpent' off their last album. Also, this album contains more singing. Don't worry, there's still plenty of growled stuff from newcomer Geoff Ficco, who sounds pretty similar to former vocalist Derek Rydquist. But there's an extra emphasis on the sung parts. The vocal style is actually pretty unique (and again, its been used before by the band, just not as much of it). Rather than a standard "clean" vocals style, the singing sounds sort of like a cross between an overly dramatic theater voice and the guy who sings the love boat theme. Sounds strange? Well, it is, and at first you're likely to find it odd, but after a bit, I found it sort of refreshing. Sorta closer to what Burton C Bell does in Fear Factory as opposed to what your average generic Deathcore guy does. It also works well with a lot of the new chord progressions, the band has spent a lot of time making sure that the overall songs sound very different and original, their first single 'The Eidolon Reality' is a pretty good indication for the rest of the album, still fast stuff, still growled stuff, but then these really odd strummed chords and sung parts. Sadly, making room for the extra progressive elements has taken some time away from the more death metally bits, still enough to keep me happy, but I would like to see them be a little more balanced with the rest of the material on their next one. While not quite as revolutionary as Gorguts' "Obscura", in some ways this album is similar in that it shows the band really pushing the progressive and experimental parts of their style, and maybe, like Gorguts, their 4th album will be a more balanced version of the brutal and progressive. Overall, I really like this album, it gets better with each listen, and if you listened to it once and were a little off put by the oddity, I'd recommend a few more listens to see if it grows on you. I thank the band for doing something a little daring.
• In Becoming A Ghost (2017) The Faceless has always been the Michael Keene show, but with this release it has really become a one man solo project. Not only does Michael play almost everything on the album (with the exception of a few growled vocals by Ken "Sorceron" Bergeron and drums by Chason Westmoreland), but from all the recent stories of lineup changes, missed concerts, and rumors of Michael's drug addiction, I suspect its safe to say The Faceless has now become Michael's personal vehicle for expressing and hopefully trying to quash his demons. While their "Planetary Duality" album is certainly their best, possibly due to the fact it had stronger contributions from many band members, I can still appreciate what the band has morphed into, a progressive death metal band with a more singular voice. So expect something more in the same vein as their last album, way more progressive and symphonic elements, more clean singing, more theatrical. For the fans of metal, don't worry too much, there's still tons of crazy blast beats and super fast guitar licks. And I'd dare say Michael's done a better job of melding the metal with the progressive than happened on their last album. The mix is a little odd, with almost no bass (that happens frequently when the guitar player handles the bass duties), but otherwise the sound is razor sharp and biting. When there are growled vocals, Ken does a great job with a higher pitched raspy voice that's quite different from previous vocalists, but it works great with the music. Some great songs, although it's a bit short, with 10 songs, 3 of which are basically intros, and one which is a Depeche Mode cover (although they change the song and metalfy it so much its almost unrecognizable as the original tune, which IMO is the way cover songs should be). Overall, as a progressive album, I think "Ghost" is a great album. I do wish we'd see a "Planetary 2", but since that's unlikely, this music scratches a different itch. I just hope Michael can get his life back on track so he can make more music, and maybe one day even return to a more full band situation.
  

FACELIFT DEFORMATION:

• Dominating The Extermination (2018) Excellent slam from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Combines many of the best elements of Pathology with Devourment. So slow groovy bits, super fast bits, vocals that are several octaves below what should be humanly possible. Excellent mix that has a super scooped sound, it's blisteringly heavy in the slow parts, and appropriately frantic during the spasms of speed. Very short album with all songs being approx. 2 minutes long, but it gives you the taste you want without overstaying its welcome. If you love slam, this is a great release.
• Cybernetic Organism Atrocities (2019)
• Path To Retribution (2021, EP) Very short 4 song EP from the band. The first track is mostly taken up by a long intro of what sounds like a 70s anime, and track 2 also starts with a minute long intro. The slam that is present is good, but the mix is a little odd. It's clear, but doesn't have that extra bass scooped sound of their debut album, which I really loved. The songs are decent, but really short. Enjoyable, but I'd grab their debut album instead if you don't already have it.
  

FEAR FACTORY:

• Soul Of A New Machine (1992) A great album. They flawlessly combine death metal, techno, industrial, samples, and super aggressive riffs. And the drumming is out of this world. The singer growls with the best of them, but also includes some clean vocals as well. Such diversity isn't seen often, and is rarely as successful as in this CD.
• Fear Is The Mindkiller (1993, EP) This album is a set of techno / industrial remixes of "Soul Of A New Machine", some of them suck, some of them are really good. At least the band is willing to try new things.
• Original Motherfuckers (1994, Live Bootleg) A live mike in the audience type of bootleg (From Lyon, 1994). It's pretty clear, but there's not a double kick to be heard on the album, either because one of the kickdrum mikes wasn't working, or just the way the album was recorded one of the bass drums just totally disappears. 13 songs, ok quality, but probably only for fans who need to own everything.
• Demanufacture (1995) Combining the best elements of their industrial CD with their death metal past, the result is probably the very best album I've heard this decade (I'm safe to say that since ...And Justice For All was last decade). Great riffs, great sound, super fast drumming and double kicks, and some of the best keyboards I've ever heard in any form of extreme music. I can't recommend this album enough. A digipak version is available with 4 bonus tracks.
• Dog Day Sunrise (1995, EP) Contains the original 'Dog Day Sunrise', an edited version of the song, 'Replica Electric Sheep Mix' (previously available on the "Demanufacture" Digipak) and a new song called 'Concreto'. The new song is really good, really industrial, with some heavy riffs.
• Remanufacture (Cloning Technology) (1997) An album of techno / industrial remixes of "Demanufacture", and I'm sorry to say that I'm a bit disappointed. The songs just aren't as brutal as the originals, and aren't as brutal as the band's last album of remixes "Fear Is The Mindkiller". It's pretty hit and miss, some of the songs are good (like the title track), some sound almost like hiphop. I think they could have done a better job.
• Burn (1997, EPr) Three new remixes in the spirit of "Remanufacture" and one track from "Remanufacture". If you liked "Remanufacture", you'll like this EP. The quality of the songs seem to be a bit better, a little more abrasive, which is how I like my remixes. Still not as good as "Fear Is The Mindkiller".
• The Gabber Mixes (1997, EP)
• From Inside The Machine (1997, Live Bootleg) Decent bootleg from the "Demanufacture" tour (recorded in Sydney Australia, Jan 27th 1997). 10 songs, most of their best, the sound is clear overall with the exception of the bass, which is this big muffled mess underneath the clear crunch of the guitar. Also don't expect the super precision of Fear Factory from the studio in the live situation. That's not so say there isn't still plenty of power, and raymond keeps those kick drums fast, clean and accurate for the most part, so I still recommend it. However, for overall sound, you may wish to check out their "Live At The Wireless" recording instead, since many of the same songs on this album are on that album and a better overall recording.
• Obsolete (1998) Here we are, the Fear Factory we all love. With Obsolete, the band has taken the core sound of "Demanufacture" and improved on it. The guitars are lower and tighter, the bass lines are more varied instead of being a carbon copy of the guitar, and the drumming is even more electronic and brutal. Sadly, there are not as many passages of continuous, super fast double kicks as in previous albums. There's still lots of nice spurts of double kicks, but nothing like 'Self Bias Resistor' or 'HK'. This is probably due to a more dance oriented beat that permeates the album, but the new beat does not interfere with the brutality or aggression of the band. Burton does his usual mix of angry screams and operatic wailing. There's lots of variety here too, a few pieces with strings, some really strange sounds, samples, keyboards, some softer songs, and some really heavy songs that make your ears bleed. An excellent album overall.
• Obsolete DigiPak (1998, Digipak) Obsolete plus 5 bonus tracks, 'Cars' (with Gary Numan), 'O-O (Where Evil Dwells)', 'Soulwound', 'Messiah' and 'Concreto'. 'Cars' is a little cheesy, but the three new tracks are amazing, more industrial sounding than the rest of the album. And 'Concreto' is a great song too, previously released on the "Dog Day Sunrise" EP. Also, some great new artwork by Dave McKean on the package. Just get it already.
• Resurrection (1998, Single) A copy of 'Resurrection', and then 'O-O (Where Evil Dwells)' and 'Soulwound' from the digipak. Basically, if you own the digipak, the only reason to pick up this single is to get some new Dave McKean artwork (which is cool, of course).
• rEvolution (1998, EP) Not much to say, a compilation including one song from each of their previous albums. Includes 'Edgecrusher', 'Remanufacture', 'Replica', 'Your Mistake', 'Scapegoat (Pigfuck Mix)', and 'Martyr'. If you own all of Fear Factory's albums already, there's really no reason to have this EP except for the cool McKean cover art.
• Cars (1999, EP) 3 songs, the band's "Cars" originally released by Gary Numan, available on the Digipak of Obsolete, slightly remixed with a bit of extra stuff but virtually identical, and then two remixes of 'Decent' and 'Edgecrusher', which are both soft and ambient, but good songs. For those who want a break to their usual diet of mind grinding blastfests.
• Prepare For Salvation (Live At The Wireless) (1999, Live Bootleg) High quality bootleg from the Obsolete tour (recorded by JJJ radio in Melborune Australia 1999). High quality because it's just about as high as you can get short of a full official live album. Everything is clear, good sound, and good mix of songs. Hell, the album starts out with 'Zero Signal' and 'Self Bias Resistor', probably two of their best songs (10 songs in all). My only comments are the same thing I'd say about any Fear Factory show, in the studio, they're all about precision, live, expect some missed notes, some rushed passages and a few wrong notes as well. But otherwise, a definite must get if you can find a copy.
• Digimortal (2001) I'll admit, I was a little worried about this album, Dino's been saying some things in the press that sound like he's treating the band now more like a business then a form of artistic expression, and a friend told me that he heard a promo of the album and it blew. Now that I've heard it, I see where the comments are coming from, the band has certainly gone more techno, more groove, and not a single fast song on the album. However, that does not mean it's a bad album. There's a lot of good solid riffs on the album, they just fall more into a Prong type vein of danceable metal (think 'Replica' or 'Edge Crusher') . The move from Obsolete to Digimortal is like Metallica's move from Justice to the black album, it's still a good album, but the band is on a slippery slope. A lot of people love their more faster, brutal side, it was the mix of techno and metal that made them special, take away the metal and you're left with just part of the equation. A little more growling from Burton, less pseudo-rapping, some faster songs, and I wouldn't be complaining. I still have to recommend the album, I just hope the band doesn't go soft on us. The digipak is out the same time as the album, and contains 4 extra songs, all of which are good, so definitely pick up the digi instead of the regular album.
• LinchPin Special Australian Tour EP 2001 (2001, EP) Contains 'Frequency', 'Linchpin', 'Machine Debaser', 'Demolition Racer', 'Invisible Wounds (Suture Mix)', 'Replica (live)' and 'Edgecrusher (live)'. The live tracks are well done, although not exactly my two favorite FF songs. Tracks 1, 3 and 4 are must owns, if you have them from elsewhere, then there's not much reason to buy this EP, if not, then you should definitely pick this EP up.
  
• Digital Connectivity (2002, DVD) A 80 min DVD of the band, overall, a good buy. Unlike say Pantera videos, this tends to showcase the music a whole lot more instead of just showing the band on tour burning and breaking things. All 4 music videos from the band are on this release (I never liked music videos, so I won't comment), and about 2-3 live songs from each of their albums. The live performances range from great to not so good, the band said they didn't do overdubs and I believe them, a few of the lives tracks are very raw, you can barely hear the guitars or drums. A few are really high quality though, the best of which is an MTV performance of "Self Bias Resistor" (hmmmm, my favorite song, what luck). They even have some live shots of the band performing in their backyard in the very early days. Some good interview material with the band, and then a whole lot of extras including a new song called 'Frequency', which is pretty cool, it ends with a very vicious stop and go riff that I really enjoyed. As far as band DVDs go, this is one of the better ones I've seen, simple, to the point and with a lot of music.
• Concrete (2002) Remastered early demo material from the band. Although the production is a little muffled (not enough crisp high end), it's actually pretty decent, there's definitely some good bass kicking around. Most of the songs are off their debut, but there's also a few songs that aren't available elsewhere, as well as some songs that eventually got cannibalized to create other songs off "Demanufacture". Overall, a good look back at the origin of the band, even as a standalone album it's worth getting.
• Hatefiles (2003) Various Bsides and such. Contains 'Terminate', the last recorded Fear Factory song, which is ok, nothing special, 'Frequency', 'Machine Debaser' and 'Demolition Racer' (if you're thinking about buying the "LinchPin Special Australian Tour EP 2001" album, you may wish to pick this release up instead). A few remixes, some of which are available as bsides on other EPs. Two alternate mixes of songs off Demanufacture by Colin Richardson, similar but inferior to the final album cuts, I'm glad they kept tweaking. A demo from a song off of "Digimortal", some stuff from the "Burn" EP. Anyways, you get the idea. Again, if you already own all the songs separately, probably best to steer away from this release, but if you're missing some of this stuff, you may want to grab the disc, it's a decent catch all collection of some obscure songs.
• Archetype (2004) So a quick recap. Fear Factory breaks up after a mediocre 4th album. Soon all sorts of stories are flying around about how Burton (vocals) couldn't stand Dino (guitar) anymore, and that's what caused the breakup. Then all these articles where Dino started talking shit about other members of the band. Then articles from the other members of the band fighting back. All very ugly, and, well, never being a fan of band politics, a little sad. I mean, this band is probably one of my favorite metal bands of all time, it's kinda like watching your parents fight. But then, the unthinkable happens, the band reforms, except without Dino? Christian (bass) is going to play guitar now? Is this really going to work out? I mean, all of a sudden the big question for me was just how much did Dino really have to do with the sound and songs of Fear Factory? I was always under the impression that he was integral to the band, and without him I didn't know if Fear Factory could be Fear Factory anymore. Well, the answer to my question was at 10 seconds into the first track, 'Slave Labor'. We had thick spacy keyboards, a complex bassdrum riff, the robotically precise guitars we all knew and loved. Not only was this still Fear Factory, but it was a hell of a lot closer to the Fear Factory I knew and loved since the opening kicks of "Demanufacture" than the work they've done since. It's cliche, but Fear Factory was back, and they were better then ever. After an excellent first track, they kick it up about 10 notches with track 2, 'Cyberwaste', which is certainly the fastest and angriest Fear Factory song I had ever heard. By track 3, which starts with a tight start-and-stop riff that the band is known for, there was no question in my mind, the band had delivered the goods and this album was gonna kick some serious ass. Track 4, 'Drones', is my favorite of the album, it has everything a good Fear Factory song should have, complex and ultra fast doublebass riffs, a really killer chorus with Burton doing his clean vocals thing, and super tight and low guitars. If I had one complaint it's that the album could have used one extra fast song at the end ('Bonescraper' is certainly fast, but the main riff is a little too upbeat for my taste), since many of the later songs are a little slower and feature the clean vocals more. Productionwise, absolutely stellar like normal. The snare is a little more live sounding, although the bassdrums are heavily triggered as usual, there's even some blast beats here which we haven't heard for years. What can I say, Raymond just has this inhuman precision about him that no other drummer can match. Christian on guitar sounds every bit as good as Dino. And Burton sounds genuinely angry again, which makes sense considering all the stuff the band has been through in the past few years. The album comes with a bonus DVD that has about 40 minutes of band interviews talking about the record, and the video for 'Cyberwaste'. This has already become my second favorite album after "Demanufacture", and is already my top album of the year. If you ever loved this band, you must check this thing out, I am simply blown away.
• Transgression (2005) Despite what you may have heard, this is not a bad album. This may not be a Fear Factory album, but it's not bad. What did Burton call it in a recent interview? "Experimental?" Well, not experimental in terms of the band doing something no one else has done before, but certainly experimental for Fear Factory, whose style has always been very consistent (even when they produced a so-so album like "Digimortal", it still sounded like the band). As far as the usual Fear Factory style goes, something about the chugging riffs they use, the super tight and triggered doublebass, the vocal melodies and way the samples interact with the music, when you hear a Fear Factory song, you know it's Fear Factory. This album breaks that rule almost completely. In fact, in many ways it almost sounds like Burton with a different band. Drumming is a little simpler without as much doublebass craziness, Raymond also uses more toms which is a bit of a departure for him, and the drum sound is far more natural, far less triggered. The guitar sound is also more raw, less processed, Christian experiments with a lot of different sounds too, different clean sounds and some semi dirty guitar tones vs full on distortion all the time. And overall the guitar sound is a little thinner. Less overdubs maybe? Far fewer keyboards as well, which also may be why the sound is thinner. The one element that remains pretty much unchanged is Burton's vocals. Anyways, things live and die by the songs, and it's a mixed bag. There are still plenty of heavy bits, like the break in 'Contagion', the break in '540,000 Degrees Fahrenheit' or the intro to 'Spinal Compression'. But lighter songs like 'Echo Of My Scream' fail to be as catchy somehow as previous Fear Factory "ballads" such as 'Resurrection' or 'Bite the Hand That Bleeds'. And there really are no fast songs at all, even just 2 well placed fast songs would have helped pick the album up tremendously. The best song on the album IMO is 'Moment Of Impact', which is certainly sludgier than a normal Fear Factory song, but it's brutal pretty much all the way through not unlike 'Concrete'. The Best-buy only bonus track 'Empire' is also good, it's heavy and has an odd sounding chorus. The album also contains 2 covers, a U2 cover and a Killing Joke cover (why have the covers before the end of the album? Why not tag them at the end as bonus tracks?) The U2 cover doesn't sound like Fear Factory at all, it's not a heavier reinvention of the song as much as it's the guys from Fear Factory playing that song just like U2 played it. The Killing Joke song is actually one of the heavier songs on the album. The Dualdisc version of the album has 3 videos (basically hastily put together music videos containing primarily footage of the band performing live) and a 20min making off, which is mostly just footage of the band in the studio while the studio tracks play in the background. The Making Of did have a few brief interviews with Christian and Raymond talking about their approach to the album, where they said they felt this album sounded more like them right now, instead of being worried about whether the songs were really Fear Factory songs. And that would be a good description. We have a few filler songs, a few good songs that sound very different. I'd still recommend picking the album up, I have a feeling it will grow on me, but I really hope that future cds include more of the trademark Fear Factory style, because overall that style is far superior to much of the material on "Transgression".
• Live On the Sunset Strip (2005, Live EP) 3 song Live EP. The sound is definitely bootleg quality, everything is clear (even the bass drums), but you'll need to pump up the volume, and even then don't expect a lot of bass. But on the upside, these are 3 of my favorite songs off "Archetype": 'Slave Labor', 'Cyberwaste' and 'Drones', the performance is good, and the cd is $2. Yes, that's right, for the cost of keeping that pesky paperboy off your back you get 3 live tracks! So all things considering, I'd recommend grabbing this if you see it at your local record store.
• Mechanize (2010) I won't bother going into all the band politics that went into making this album (anyone reading this review is probably sick of it by now), so lets just say this version of Fear Factory has original members Burt (vocals) and Dino (guitar), with Byron on bass (who's been the band's bass player for a number of albums) and drum god Gene Hoglan. I think the best way to review the album is to place it in context with all the other versions of Fear Factory, and their respective side projects. This album totally blows away "Transgression". But it's not quite as good as "Archetype". It's also not quite as good as Divine Heresy's 2 albums (Dino's side project). But is way better than Arkaea (which consisted of drummer Raymond and guitarist Christian). The album has all the classic Fear Factory elements, fast songs, slow songs, brutal sound, spooky keyboards. Gene does a great hybrid style between his own work and Raymond, in general the style sounds a lot like Raymond, but then every once in awhile you'll hear a riff that you know is pure Gene. So overall, this album, while slightly different from the band's earlier work, isn't much of a departure from the Fear Factory sound. I think the only reason I rate this is a little lower then "Archetype" is because a few of these songs sound sorta stock. Like the main riff to 'Controlled Demolition' is basically just 'Body Hammer', but played faster and with a slightly different chord progression. My guess is the band rushed the writing process a bit, since it seems they went from Dino and Burt making up to having an album in a super short period of time. But there are still some great songs here. I like the slower songs a lot, 'Metallic Division' and 'Final Exit'. The faster songs at the beginning are pure FF. Also, it's nice to hear a re-recording of 'Crash Test' with more doublebass :) The Deluxe copy of the album has a few bonus demo tracks from Fear Factory's first album, they're cool but nothing special. No matter what happens in the future, who's in the band and who hates or loves who, the think the only definite is that many of the songs on this album will become a part of the band's normal rotation. Highly recommended.
• The Industrialist (2012) First off, this album starts off in a very non Fear Factory way, with this big intro not that unlike the beginning to a Strapping Young Lad album (imagine 'Velvet Kevorkian' but without the shouting over top). But a minute in or so, those super mechanical sounding double bass triggers start doing their thing, and you know the band is back to their old tricks. And the intro does end up working its way back into the song as the chorus. Fear Factory newcomers Byron Stroud and Gene Hoglan are gone, Byron has been replaced by former Chimaira guitarist Matt DeVries, now on bass. Not sure if his work made it on the album or not. And Gene, while replaced on the upcoming tour by Mike Heller, was replaced on this album by programmed drums done by Dino. While Fear Factory's drums have always been very mechanical sounding in style, in general I am not a fan of drum machines. Now these drums are very well done, they thankfully avoid that perfect computer precision that gives away a drum machine in an instant. But when I first listened to this album, I felt there was something a bit odd going on, it was hard to put my finger on it, it just sounded perhaps a little too processed. Once I found out the drums were mechanical, I'm starting to think that that may have contributed to the issue. Anyways, for the most part this album is the Dino and Burt show, and song wise it's very strong, although I feel "Mechanize" had songs that were perhaps a little more catchy right off the bat. One thing that is cool is this album pushes the industrial side of the band a bit more, like 'God Eater' is a good blend of an industrial verse with a more metal like chorus, and the last song 'Landfill' is highly sludgy and pounding with a strong mechanized beat. In closing, I feel the lack of a solid "band" behind the music may have hurt this album a bit, but otherwise, some strong songs. While not the band's best material, it's certainly miles ahead of the band's worse material (like "Transgression").
• Genexus (2015) Thank goodness the drum machine is gone and the real drums are back! But other than that one high point, I tend to find this album a little "meh". The performance is solid (a little groovier than their previous 2, think "Obsolete"), but few of the song really stick out. Many of them seem to use chord progressions, riffs or drum fills from previous albums, I found myself playing the game of "Which older Fear Factory song did that riff come from" way too often. There are a few decent songs despite the similarities to previous work, the title track 'Genexus' is a good aggressive song with some nice pounding double bass half way through. And I found my favorite song on the album was actually the quiet album ender 'Expiration Date', which is a retelling of the end of Blade Runner, and the song itself wouldn't have been completely out of place in the film. Decent but not spectacular, I hope Burton and Dino find extra inspiration next time around.
• Aggression Continuum (2021) After a long and nasty legal battle with former members of the band, and then the dismissal of longtime vocalist Burton C Bell after recording this album, it looks like Dino is going it alone. I'm not sure if I can truly call whatever entity goes out on tour Fear Factory, so this is in some ways the final Fear Factory album, or at least with the band as we've known it. So how does it stack up? While not as classic as their early monumental genre defining albums, "Aggression Continuum" is far stronger than anything they've put out in the last decade. While "Mechanize" was a great album, and really really aggressive, this album is a little more balanced with more melody mixed in. A lot of symphonic elements actually, Fear Factory always added keyboards into the mix, but rather than the usual spacey keyboards, the stuff here is pure orchestral, like they were playing with a symphony. It gives the album a unique flavor, think I like the spacey keyboards more, but these elements are still pretty cool. The band relies a little too much on the standard yelled verse sung vocals thing, which they've always done, but this time it sounds perhaps a touch more formulaic. And a few of the later songs are perhaps a little too infleunced by previous songs in their catalog. But I really like one of their first singles 'Fuel Injected Suicide Machine', it's a really great mix of all the very best Fear Factory elements. In general, a strong album, one of the best they've done in awhile, and unless Dino and Burton patch things up, a decent end to an era.
  

• Morte Cerebral (2019, EP) Reminds me a little of Gorgasm, or a less complex Dying Fetus, so technical death metal with shorter songs, a good mix of blasting and double bass, low gargled vocals. Decent production, although a little more bass would be a good things. It's complex but doesn't change time signatures too often. This band is from South Korea, which I think is a first for me, it's a fun EP and well worth a listen.
• Moribund (2024) More technical death metal, this full length heads a little more into Spawn Of Possession territory, except a tiny bit groovier and not quite as fast. Great musicianship, really good sound (with great bass this time). Even if it's not original, with SOP no longer together, happy to have another group pick up the torch and successfully move forward with it, tech death fans should absolutely check this out.
  

• Fungally Infested Fistathon (2013, EP) Brutal death metal in the same general style as Pathology, or a much closer match would probably be Iniquity. So very low, riff based gargled lyrics. Plenty of low tremolo and other good hooks. Love the song titles on this one, stuff like 'Full On Fallopian Fungus' and 'Fingered to Death (The Fingerbang Fatality)', they obviously have a goood sense of humor. While nothing unique, the band writes good memorable riffs and so this 5 song EP is highly enjoyable.
  

• Slaves Of Virgo (2007) Crazy math metal in the vein of Dillenger Escape Plan, Ion Dissonance, Candiria or Meshuggah. Most of the CD almost feels like an exercise in freeform jazz, except horribly distorted and filled with screams. While I'm generally not a fan of Dillenger Escape Plan type stuff, this CD has a few things going for it. First, the sound is so ridiculously thick and brutal that it's fun to listen to just from a sonic perspective. Second, great production value, the guitar sound is just monstrously distorted, and the drums are really hard hitting. Third, the vocals are fun, they range from low growls to high screams to gurgling to chanting to something akin to Donald Duck on crack. There are a few lighter breaks between the craziness, just enough to add variety, the tribal female singing in 'The Rise And Fall Of Red Sparrows' is pretty cool. And I enjoy the sludgy closing track 'The Harridan Marathon'. Highly brutal stuff, if you dig the style, this is worth checking into.
  

• New Order of Intelligence (2009, EP) Very much in the Immolation vibe, with just a touch of old school Deeds Of Flesh. So odd, dissonant riffs with fast blasts and doublebass underneath that gives you that odd uneasy feeling. Vocals are mid/low in a Ross Dolan style, although really could use a little more variety, as they tend to drone a little too much. The riffs tend to be memorable and inventive, with a good mix of fast and moshable bits. If you're into Immolation, and would love to find some high quality bands in a similar style, Flesh Consumed has plenty to love.
  

• Destined For Defilement (1997)
• The Seeds Of Abysmal Torment (2000) Pretty straight ahead American death metal in the style of Suffocation, Disavowed or Skinless. What makes this all worth while is some really good riffs and some obvious skill on the part of the musicians. The vocals are varied from higher screams to Disgorge level grunts. Reasonably complex drums with blasts and double bass, although the vibe is mostly on the slow and groove-related side. If I had one complaint it's that the guitar sound is a little muffled, while the production remains heavy, they could have done a slightly better job eqing everything. Like Skinless' "Foreshadowing Our Demise", the riffs are imaginative enough that you find yourself putting the CD into your CD player again and again even if there's nothing here you can point to that's particularly inventive. Worth the cash.
• Live In Germany (2002, EP)
• Murder Without End (2003) Very similar to their last album, but everything's pushed up a notch. First off, my issues with the production on the last album are gone with this album, this has just the right level of low end and high end. Some of the songs remind me a bit of Internal Bleeding's first album, in style, not that they're copies or anything. Some very good slow chugged riffs that cling to the brain, very memorable. Good song writing is key here, I've been hearing a lot of albums recently that resemble a series of notes strung together instead of real songs, and like a one night stand, it may be fun for the evening, but in the morning you wake up from your drunken haze and realize she wasn't nearly as good looking as she seemed the night before. And what was her name again? This album on the other hand is that really cute girl who you can expect to have a loving long term relationship with. Oh ya, and this girl has horns, fangs, claws and her voice sounds like satan gargling. Just the way we like it. Hmm, hmm. Seriously, this stuff is really good, and I highly recommend the album to fans of the genre.
  

• Here Among Thorns (2001) Sometimes you can tell a lot from a band by the cover songs they perform. In the case of Fleshtized, it's no huge surprise that the album ends with a cover of Morbid Angel's 'Rapture', although really this album reminds me more of Hate Eternal's "Conquering the Throne". So while it may have some similarities to post "Covenant" Morbid Angel, it removes most of the the slow stuff and centers on the angry, furious parts that Hate Eternal did so well. And these guys do it really well too. In fact, I'd have to mark this down as one of the best albums in this genre I've heard in awhile. Right from the first riff I knew this was something worth listening to and not just another one of these "ok, I'm a reviewer, so I have to review this cd" kind of albums. Great blast beats and double bass, really low and thick guitarwork, some unusual riffs that standout as creative, and good decent midrange vocals. Put this one on your list of cds to buy for the week.
  

• Here Down To Earth (1991, Demo)
  
• The Green God (1992, Demo)
• Revolt (1994, Demo) I saw Foreshadow live about 3 years ago, and was unimpressed. But then I got a hold of this demo tape, and boy have they improved. Sort of a goofy style of death metal, very technical, great riffs, excellent production, lots of bass, they have a wacky streak to their music as well as crushing riffs.
• Do We Disturb? (1996) The band's first and last CD. While the production is as good as Revolt, the song writing just isn't up to the same level. Not that the song writing is bad, it's still way better than most bands, and keeps generally with the same style as the demo. A shame the band has recently broken up.

• Asphyxiating Ravenous Of The Infinite Omnivore (2023) Brutal Death Metal / Slam band from Indonesia. Pretty savage, much in the same vein as Devourment, Skinless, Analepsy, NecroticGoreBeast, etc. Super guttural vocals, super thick production, the guitar sound is huge. Heavy bass, pounding drums, and with song titles like 'Manifesting On Dirty Carcasses With Maggots Garnish', how can you go wrong. Honestly, if you like this genre, this is a great release with great sound and heavy as fuck. Recommended.
  

• Chronicles (2013) Solid progressive metal. Lots of styles touched on here, from thrash to death, mildly Djent. The album starts off with piano and quiet sung vocals, then goes strongly in the death direction with the full death vocals and blasts. But for the most part the album remains midpaced. Riffwise, much of this material is reminiscent of stuff we've heard before, but it's catchy and the individual pieces are held together really well but strong compositional skills. Impressively, this band is basically one guy doing everything, and a guest vocalist doing some of the singing, so think Ziltoid from Devin Townsend, but with what I believe to be acoustic drums. The production quality is also excellent, a nice thick wall of guitars and keyboards. Really enjoyable album, prog fans should dig this a lot.
  

• Non-Physical Reality (1995, Demo) This band broke up, but you'll want a copy of their demo. It's a great mixture of death and melodic music. The guitar player has a guitar synth, and plays these really serene, beautiful interludes, which work as a great counterpoint to the powerful, in your face thrash of the main band.

• Wake The Demons (2004) This hardcore / metalcore band from New York sure packs a punch. Their powerful rhythm section really knows how to slap you around with a riff. Not a bit of melody or harmony to be found here, just single note riffs (usually low E, or whatever actual note that string is tuned to) that are loud and pummeling. If you know Bury Your Dead, you'll know what to expect from this band. While enjoyable, the lack of variety does hurt this album. The songs all tend to blend together, and many of the riffs sound recycled (like the beginning riff in 'Fore Warned' and 'Strength Within' are almost identical to the beginning of Slayer's 'Payback', right down to the punches). A little bit of calm may have made the angry bits that much more effective. But as it stands, you have an vicious band who write decent riffs and perform them with so much conviction you'll be thrashing around in that pit before you know it. A for anger, C for originality and variety.

• Devouring The Excavated (2011) Very similar to Disgorge, although with slightly easier to follow songs. Another good comparison would be Pathology, or early Deranged, so fast death metal with lots of blasting, fast double bass, squawks, fast picking and super low gargled vocals that are completely unintelligible. Some of the more squeal sounded noises are a bit over the top. Overall, despite the lack of originality, and variety to the songs, there's just enough good material here to be worth checking into. Not brilliant, but fun.
• Ominous (2020) So this album sheds some of the Disgorge comparisons, and instead feel a little more like classic Disavowed. So very fast technical death metal with lots of tremolo picking, lots of pattern changes while keeping pretty similar tempos. The recording quality has also improved, a little more bass and a tad less high end. And the songwriting has gone up a notch with more memorable riffs. I'd say this is a great step forward for the band, while the general style isn't revolutionary, the material is really high quality.