Review by KosieKat for Fear Factory - Demanufacture (1995)

If you're at industrial bands with big names, Fear Factory is one of the first to be mentioned in many conversations. They're a group that if you look at their discography really has a solid sense of what they are about and have followed that path.  With the industrial sound really kind of brushing at the heels of pop culture at the time, Zero Signal getting to appear in the Mortal Kombat movie back then in the 90's was really an excellent oppurtunity for Fear Factory and honestly whats more fun than throwing on album like this an then crushing some noobs to a few rounds of MK? but I digress. The concept of this album, fighting back against the oppressive machines in control, really coming through with Herrara's POUNDING drums. The speed and precision of his beats absolutely annihilate you as the listener. The band was in fact accused of using a drum machine becuase of Herrara's precision, which is a back handed compliment if I ever heard one. The guitar is fine but honestly is second fiddle to the rhythm section ( which is fine by me, its what I want in industial music, excellent rhythm and drumming).  The Synth on this album adds to the athmosphere instead of becoming the centerpiece, or detracting from the brutality which is appreciated as a fan of heavy music. The vocals of Burton Bell are raw emotion fueled to drive thier message home, and the effects they have in the background only add the ambience. While I personally don't think this is their #1 album if I was ranking them( their follow up album Obselete is probably the favorite here) , its definately up there and worth the praise. Without the sucess of this album there would not be an Obselete, so there is that as well. If you don't have time for a full album listen to the tracks H-K (Hunter Killer), Body Hammer, and Pisschrist those I think were my top 3.