I remember when this came out. I didn’t really dig it that much. I didn’t hate it either, but I was too busy discovering underground death and black metal to be really concerned with this stuff. Looking back on it I have to say though, Fear Factory Soul of a New Machine is something that needed to happen. At the time when this came out I think the idea of traditional metal had become a little tired. Metallica / Megadeth had ditched the thrash sound and gone for a more main stream sound and Grunge was starting to take over. New bands like Machine Head and Korn were starting to creep into mainstream metal conciousness. Much of the old guard of Metal was tired and either running out of inspiriation, diluting themselves into other genres or splitting up.
This release combines a ground breakingly crushing heavy guitar tone and locks in incredibly tightly with the drums. There’s hints of grind-core here and definite elements of death metal, and everything is very professionally recorded. At this point the most stand out feature of the band is Burton C Bell’s vocals which combine a mixture of singing and death metal gutteral vocals. It’s obvious from the first song “Martyr” that this band are definitely doing something original. Something the scene definitely needed.
Like I said I was busy at the time listening to other things but I’m big enough to say this is a great record. The use of samples and sci-fi themes in their songs also set them apart, from their peers. There are some really cool death metal riffs in this and the bands use of samples is excellent. I remember heaps of my friends that weren’t really into death metal were able to get into this. This along with say “Ministry” opened up a whole new angle on metal introducing the industrial soundscapes into the genre and getting away from the whole satan / gore thing that most of the extreme metal scene were cemented in.
“Scapegoat” and “Crash Test” are instant stand outs for me, but really I have to say the whole album is standout and when you don’t listen to it as individual songs it really creates a bleak soundscape of a future that was a while off then, but now seems strangely ominious.
I am far from an expert on Fear Factory but I have to say I like this album and really I think it did a lot for the scene by getting a whole bunch of kids that weren’t into the studs and leather thing of traditional metal or couldn’t get into extreme death or black metal. I also feel the guitar riffs on this one were the best out of the albums that I’ve heard. Again with time I’ll be revisiting this band a bit more and we’ll see if I still feel that way.
Now that the hype around Fear Factory has died down a little its a lot easier to go back and listen to this with an open mind. Most people reading this will either know the band or be into more extreme or traditional metal but if you’re going to listen to any Fear Factory this is the one!
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