Artist: Fear Factory
Label: Roadrunner Records
Release Date: 4/24/01
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Title: Digimortal Artist: Fear Factory Label: Roadrunner Records Release Date: 4/24/01 |
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Abyss's Review:
Alright, I’m trying to get past the fact that the last thing I heard from this band was their version of Gary Numan’s “Cars”. Now while it’s obvious to anyone who’s ever heard this version that it’s the worst recording ever made, my reasons for hating might be slightly different than others’. I actually really like that song, and I think it would make a great cover if done by a metal band. Hell, if Strapping Young Lad had done it I probably would have creamed my pants. Or shit them (I guess that happens a little more often)… Anyhoo, I was actually a big supporter of Fear Factory doing this song, in theory ("Marge, I agree with you in theory. In theory Communism works." -Homer Simpson). But the fact that the finished product was so bland and unremarkable really left a bad taste in my mouth regarding this band. As much as it pains me to say it, Limp Bizkit’s “Faith” was a more successful cover (God I feel dirty… scrub, scrub… it just won’t come off! I scrub and scrub and IT WON’T COME OFF!!!!). Anyhoo II (the sequel) it could have so easily been a powerful little ditty, but it came across with the disposition of Britney Spears on PMS.
" It has a few cool tunes (or should I say, parts of songs), but for the most part it’s unfocused, and a pretty blatant stab at the 'Rage Rock' scene that continues to grow." This combined with my overall disappointment with Obsolete, to the point that I forgot how Demanufacture floored me the first time I heard it. So can this new full length from FF bring me back into the fold? Have they remembered what it used to be like before MTV knew who they were? Can I stop asking pointless questions in a vain attempt to build suspense while most of you are just skipping to the end anyway? The answer to all three is a resounding NO!
This album suffers from the same drawbacks as its predecessor did. It has a few cool tunes (or should I say, parts of songs), but for the most part it’s unfocused, and a pretty blatant stab at the “Rage Rock” scene that continues to grow. This becomes apparent right off the bat, with the intro to lead track “What Will Become” which utilizes guitar sounds first heard on Korn’s Life is Peachy. Now I’m actually a lot more tolerant of this sort of stuff than most of yous out there so the fact that this album is very commercial doesn’t really bother me that much. I can get into the simple (at some points contrived) grooves that mix Urbania with the sewer. And I can dig some of the slower songs that mix “aggression” (if you can call it that) and mellower vocals, like they did so effectively on “Replica” so long ago (note: not even the best songs on this album approach that album). So songs like “Digimortal”, “Linch Pin”, and “Acres of Skin” I find enjoyable, even if they don’t hold my attention as well as they should. But those songs share the same disc as stinkers like “No One” and “Back the Fuck Up”. I actually think my score is a little on the generous side, but I guess there’s enough on this album to keep me from giving up on these guys completely. One word review: Blah.
"One word review: Blah."
Death's Review:
I got into Fear Factory with Demanufacture, and I even liked some of the techno remix shit that came next. But by the time Obsolete rolled around, I was really getting quite bored. Even leaving aside the issue of the absolutely horrid cover of "Cars" that was added (if I recall correctly) months after the album's release and that went on to become an annoying radio hit, causing Fear Factory to have a nice little two-month run when there were popping up on MTV's Spring Break shows and shit like that, the band was feeling a little played to these ears. Anyway, I remember seeing Fear Factory on the last tour and literally thinking that every one of their songs sounds exactly alike. Sure, the rhythmic guitar over the almost-programmed-sounding machine-gun fire double-bass, the layered high-register, spacey-sounding vocals and overall futuristic keyboard effect were all there, and taken in doses they were sounding as cool as ever. But that is all that Fear Factory were about, it seemed, and their attempts to venture outside the "Fear Factory box" like the aforementioned "Cars" just plain weren't all that good. And they didn't play the techno shit at all in concert. So it got boring quickly.
"Verdict? It's OK." Fast forward to the present, and for the past few days I've been walking around the streets of New York -- with some awesome, newly minted summertime weather beaming down -- listening to Digimortal. Verdict? It's OK.
"What will become? What will we be? When we can see our own eternity?"
At least it sounds fresher. I like the material that stretches a little on this one, like "Invisible Wounds (Dark Bodies)". What makes that song work is the killer, downtuned heavy part in the middle of the otherwise very poppy tune. I definitely appreciate the aggression of the song when set up with that dynamic.
Then the album suddenly moves into the Pantera-clone "Acres of Skin," which sounds cool anyway, probably because I like Pantera. These two tracks, nos. 6 and 7 on Digimortal, emphasize the diversity of the record, 'cause they both sound completely different yet neither sounds like traditional Fear Factory. Of course, from the outset of the next track, the revealing yet painfully titled "Back Da Fuck Up" (not to be confused with Soulfly's equally ridiculous "Jumpdafuckup"), the bad attempt at bad rap metal shows the downside of Fear Factory's penchant for experimentation with varying styles.
"Fear Factory are confused, redundant and inconsistent, but they can also be really cool." In the end, Digimortal is a mixed bag. I could have given this album four skulls. I can see why the others here are also giving it two. Sometimes Fear Factory do miss the mark entirely and come across sounding like simply a bad band. Other times they hit their stride with perfection, and sound like mechanical metal gods from above. In the end, it is glorious moments of futuristically psychedelic NIN-metal like the closer, "(Memory Implants) Never End" which ironically make me hold out hope for Fear Factory. Fear Factory are confused, redundant and inconsistent, but they can also be really cool. Never has this vision of the band become so clear to me as after having spent time with Digimortal. And funny thing, for an album only getting three skulls, it has shown a surprising resiliency in getting considerable continued airtime - I keep coming back to listen to it. Perhaps this one will grow on me yet. But for now, I'm only rooting for them 'cause I'd rather see Dino Cazares, Raymond Herrera and Burton C. Bell (aw heck, throw in the crazy bass player too) on MTV than whomever else they'd probably be putting on in their place.
Hel's Review:
Once upon a time, I would have called myself a Fear Factory fan. No specific, monumental event or album caused them to fall from my favor - it was more of a gradual occurrence, a slowly increasing boredom with their product. But somewhere along the way, I became utterly disinterested in the doings of Fear Factory.
"I was already bored and ambivalent, and this album's rehashing of the same formulaic plot for the third time is not enough to salvage my waning interest." So here I am, new album in hand, wondering how many skulls it deserves. Does my lack of enthusiasm affect my ability to appreciate it? I have mixed feelings when it comes to this album. I kind of liked Remanufacture at first, since it was a novelty at the time, and I had genuinely liked Demanufacture. But the techno-flavoring turned out not to be a novelty, reappearing on Obsolete and again on this one, and apparently has become a core component of their sound.
So the techno bores me. What else did I once like about Fear Factory? Mr. Bell's vocal harmonies were cool back in the day. And they are exactly the same today - and I mean exactly the same - as in, not variations upon the theme, but exactly the same. Dullsville. The intense drumming I once adored is minimal these days, with most of the songs utilizing simpler, slower beats overall.
The only "innovation" on Digimortal is the overt attempt at gangsta rap which they call "Back the Fuck Up". On the one hand, around the same time I like Fear Factory, I also liked Ice T, Cypress Hill and the like, so a part of me wants to like this too, since it shares commonalities with those acts, but at the core, it smacks of trying to get in good with the nu-metal crowd. A crowd they've been hanging with far too much in the past couple of years, if you want my opinion.
So, while this album isn't a large step in any given direction, for me, it is this very sameness that seals its fate. I was already bored and ambivalent, and this album's rehashing of the same formulaic plot for the third time is not enough to salvage my waning interest. On paper, this is a dandy album, and I think people who loved Obsolete will love this one too. However, I am not one of those people, and now that I'm on the fifth or sixth listen, I can't wait to listen to anything else.
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