Fear Factory - Mechanize (2010)

Candlelight Records, February 5, 2010

Tracklist

1. Mechanize

2. Industrial Discipline

3. Fear Campaign

4. Powershifter

5. Christploitation

6. Oxidizer

7. Controlled Demolition

8. Designing the Enemy

9. Metallic Division

10. Final Exit

This entry is one in a series of ten-year retrospectives on my favorite albums from the year 2010. On Mechanize, Fear Factory takes a more aggressive edge while not sacrificing the melody that is key to their unique sound. Tracks like “Fear Campaign” and “Powershifter” are relentless and heavy with machine-like precision and rhythm courtesy of guitarist Dino Cazares and drummer Gene Holgan. While technical and calculated this is a band that is not afraid to be catchy as well and throughout the album vocalist Burton C. Bell delivers memorable choruses. He has an almost mechanical but melodic vocal delivery that fits perfectly with the atmosphere and mood the band is going for. Fear Factory adheres to this formula for most of the album and it works very well. The final two songs “Designing the Enemy” and “Final Exit” diverge from this path and are far more melodic and experimental.

Mechanize is the lone album I have reviewed that is not currently available for streaming on Spotify. This is likely due to issues over an ongoing legal dispute which band lineup has the rights to the name, but you can still buy it through sellers on Amazon. The whole legal dispute which is preventing a new album is unfortunate, but it doesn’t overshadow the tremendous influence Fear Factory brought to the metal scene. In the early 1990s, the albums Soul of a New Machine and Demanufacture broke new ground with their hybrid of death metal and industrial music. In fact Burton C. Bell is widely considered to be the first vocalist to mix death metal growls with clean choruses, a style which is now ubiquitous in metal.  

I give this album an overall score of 8/10, with "Designing the Enemy", "Fear Campaign" and "Powershifter" standing out as the highlights.   Seen by many fans as a return to form and one of Fear Factory’s best albums to date, Mechanize is calculated, heavy, and cold, much like the machine itself.