Reviews list for Fear Factory - Demanufacture (1995)

It takes some real determination to make an essential album that would revolutionize metal history. Setting aside the downfall of the more classic heavy metal genres like thrash, the 90s has made some astonishing masterpieces in other subgenres, a small few of which can be considered fantastic groundbreaking sh*t. An album that stunned the world is Fear Factory's second album Demanufacture! This is from a time when metal was expanding into a different variety of styles, and Fear Factory is one band that perfectly contributed to this diverse growth. Their debut album Soul of a New Machine displayed a never-before-heard mix of death growls and clean vocals, and extreme metal with electro-industrial. Those vocals, guitars, bass, drums, and electronics all create a newfound atmosphere to shock listeners worldwide!

Demanufacture shows the band evolving from their initial style with a perfect blend of their earlier brutality with a more melodic sound and futuristic keyboards. They often base their sound on their lyrical themes, in which humanity is being lost to technology. If Earth Crisis' debut from that year is about destroying machines, Demanufacture warns you about the dangers of destructive machinery. This legendary concept and sound covers the entire album throughout, and if mixing extreme, industrial, and melodic isn't considered revolutionary, I wouldn't know what is.

Already proving the album to be a classic, the title opener starts with synth atmosphere before a killer riff joins in, followed by bass and drums, all proving the band to be industrial metal legends! The crushing riffs and thundering drums perfectly stand alongside the amazing vocal charisma in the growls and cleans. Already showing how unbreakable the band is, "Self Bias Resistor" rises in heaviness, leading up to a killer ending for the track. "Zero Signal" is amazing with futuristic atmosphere before ending peacefully with a piano outro. Perhaps the most famous song by the band is "Replica". It's not my ultimate favorite song from the band, but its straight pace and killer chorus make that single a perfect one. It was later covered by symphonic metal band Epica. If you're not sure about that cover, don't be an Epica "Replica" replica skeptica! lol

There's a little more of the electro-industrial effects in "New Breed", while the mechanical heavy intensity reigns throughout. "Dog Day Sunrise" is an OK song, covering a track by one of Godflesh founder Justin Broadrick's former bands Head of David. The percussion is pretty easy to headbang to. Then "Body Hammer" is one of the more average tracks here, but it doesn't reduce the album's perfection at all. I can almost say the same thing about "Flashpoint". However, that's not to say any of the more average songs are bad. They're still great and make the album keep its 5-star rating. Though the percentage rating would probably be slightly over 95%.

The more furious "H-K (Hunter-Killer)" has fast adrenaline. Despite the name, "P*sschrist" is a total industrial mind-smasher. It starts dark and heavy before rising into epic drama. Alongside industrial samples and drumming, it then leads to more of the furious growls and apocalyptic cleans by Burton C. Bell, the latter especially the ending of atmospheric majesty. "Where is your savior now?" Finally, "A Therapy for Pain" is a dark nearly 10-minute epic showing how influential Fear Factory can be.

All in all, Demanufacture is a quite a masterpiece landmark in all of industrial metal. Not only has it pleased the 90s generation of metal, it can sure bring headbanging joy to future generations to come. For the modern metalheads out there, this is a must!

Favorites: "Demanufacture", "Replica", "New Breed", "H-K (Hunter-Killer)", "P*sschrist", "A Therapy for Pain"