SilentScream213 I was a fan of Fear factory’s Death Metal influenced, aggressive brand of Industrial Metal prior to this album. But here is where they really decided the guitars were never going to do anything interesting again. They become relegated to a third rhythm instrument, and without much in the way of keys or atmospherics, the album is left very one note. Overly reliant on chugs and near-Djenting drumming and guitar syncopation. Both harsh vocals and clean vocals are sub par, the former moving even further from Death Growls to more typical Groove Metal tough-guy grunts, and the cleans are just not catchy. The Electronic/Industrial sounds that do make appearances are usually annoying, not contributing in a positive way to the music.

These crippling weaknesses are thankfully averted for the final two tracks. Resurrection manages to be catchy with some Alt Metal influence, and the guitars actually create some melodic soundscapes rather than repetitive chugging. The final track “Timelessness” strays even further, opting for an Ambient/Chamber sound, a beautiful, poignant piece that easily manages to be my favorite on the album.

Thanks to these last two tracks, the album has value. But the majority of it falls into that monotonous stereotype of repetitive riff-less chugging that occurs when one mixes Industrial and Groove Metal.

UMUR "Obsolete" is the third full-length studio album by US death/groove/industrial metal act Fear Factory. The album was released in July 1998 through Roadrunner Records. It´s the successor to "Demanufacture" (June 1995, Roadrunner Records) and features the exact same quartet lineup who recorded the predecessor. The original album contains 10 tracks while the limited edition digi-pack features 5 bonus tracks. "Obsolete" has sold enough copies to be certified gold, which is actually quite the achivement for an album this extreme. But it says a lot about how popular Fear Factory were in those years.

The music is a combination of futuristic death metal, industrial metal, and alternative/groove-metal. There´s actually an organic edge to the sound on the album that was definitely not present on "Demanufacture", but the music is still quite mechanical and sharp in execution. We´re still treated to triggered artificial sounding bass drums and a polished futuristic production, so the word organic shouldn´t be misinterpreted here.

The lyrics on the album features a sci-fi concept story about the Edgecrusher and his struggles for freedom in a totalitarian machine dominated world sometime in the future (2076 A.D to be exact). It´s like reading a Philip K. Dick novel or watching a Terminator movie. In addition to the lyrics there are explanations to each song, which is a really great help if you want to understand and follow the story. So there´s a bleak and sinister sci-fi atmoshere on the album and the music follows suit. Not that "Obsolete" is the darkest album that I´ve ever heard, but the point is that the lyrics and the music suit each other well.

"Obsolete" features an increased use of alternative and groove based heavy riffing which are added to Fear Factory´s industrialized death metal style. I´m sure the most old school deathgrind fans, already jumped ship on "Demanufacture", so this is just to say that "Obsolete" travels further down the more groove oriented riff and rhythm style initiated on the predecessor. Some of the highlights of the album are "Securitron (Police State 2000)" and "Descent" but all tracks are of a high quality and work well within the concept story of the album.

I´m not sure Burton C. Bell´s limited clean vocal range should have tried forces with the closing ballad track "Timelessness" though. He is way out of his league on that track and struggles to keep the pitch. His vocal performance on this album is otherwise decent enough. His skills may be limited (which at times limits the music itself), but at least he has a distinct souning voice and a singing style which he doesn´t deviate much from. His raw shouted vocals are pretty strong and when he performs harsher but still clean vocals like he does in "Descent", the outcome is much more successful than when he performs his more sterile cleans.

Upon conclusion "Obsolete" is a both well written, well performed, and well produced release, and it shows development from "Demanufacture", which means that it´s just not a clone of their past success. That´s always praise worthy when you release something on the heels of your commercial breakthrough release. Some artists fall into the trap thinking that their audience just wants version 2 of said release, and releasing a copy of a past success is almost always doomed to failure. Fear Factory steer clear of anything like that and while "Obsolete" isn´t as groundbreaking or as unique as "Demanufacture" is, it´s still a high quality release and a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Warthur After crafting a pretty decent industrial metal release in Demanufacture, Fear Factory's musical evolution would see them scaling back the death metal elements they'd originally cultivated and focusing more on the groove metal and alternative metal sounds which they'd started weaving into their sound, though not to such an extent as to take them out of the industrial metal sphere entirely. The end result was Obsolete, an album perfectly aligned to fit the groove/alt tendencies of the 1990s with that thick layer of industrial grime that was all the rage back then.

A calculated attempt at selling out? Maybe, maybe not - but either way as well as being a monster hit in sales terms it's also a fairly fun album, a breezily unpretentious little listen which retains more than enough metal ferocity to get you bopping your head to it and keeps things nice and accessible. It doesn't reinvent the wheel or provide an unalloyed classic of the genre, but it isn't a clumsy botch either.

metalmillennium Fear Factory are one of those bands I've known about for ages but never really gave a try. Most of the music you will hear from Fear Factory is revolved around the fantastic drumming of Raymond Herrera. The production is the most commendable thing about this album, and to a certain degree it sounds a bit overproduced.

Obsolete sounds a whole lot like the previous album Demanufacture with a few minor differences. The vocals are a little more melodic in places such as "Decent" and even borderline rap on "Edge Crusher." The drums in "Securiton" are sure to take a house down (or two). "Hi-tech Hate" and "Freedom of Fire" stray out of the melodic direction and cruise right back into destructive territory as found on "Shock." "Resurrection" and "Timelessness" are the final and more mature offerings, containing everything from orchestrated sections to slower, more emotional vocals. Nothing out of the norm here: If anything, Raymond Herrera's superb drumming is worth a shot. Aside from having little identity from Demanufacture, Obsolete can make a fun casual listen.