FEAR FACTORY — Transgression (review)

FEAR FACTORY — Transgression album cover

Album · 2005 · Industrial Metal

3/5 · 2011-01-22
UMUR

"Transgression" is the sixth full-length studio album by US, Califoria based death/industrial/groove metal act Fear Factory. The album was released through Trillion Records in August 2005. "Transgression" was produced by Toby Wright who is known for his work with among others Alice In Chains, Korn, and Soulfly. The lineup is unchanged since "Archetype" (2004) which means it´s Burton C. Bell on vocals, Christian Olde Wolbers on guitars, Raymond Herrera on drums, and Byron Stroud on bass.

The music on the album is groove laden/industrial tinged metal with a few nods towards extreme metal. The change from being an industrial death metal act which was already initiated as far back as on "Obsolete" (1998) is now complete. There´s very little on "Transgression" besides the occasional aggressive attitude that suggests that Fear Factory were once a death metal act. Burton C. Bell sings both clean and raw vocal styles on the album but both styles are pretty accessible. The harder hittin´ riffing on the album are more akin to NU-metal and alternative chuggin´ metal style riffing than ever before. The songs are generally very simple and accessible. Calling this an adventurous album would be strecthing the definition of that word very far.

"Archetype" was an album where the band had to find their footing again after principal songwriter and guitarist Dino Cazares left the band but it was actually a surprisingly strong release. Christian Olde Wolbers, who shifted from bass to guitars and became the prinicipal songwriter in Fear Factory after Dino Cazares left, didn´t write as much of the material on "Transgression" though. Retrospective compaints from both Olde Wolbers and Herrera suggest that Bell took over much of the songwriting and production work along with Wright, and the other members of the band were never satisfied with the end result. Unfortunately Bell doesn´t seize the chance to write anything but mediocre chugging Fear Factory tracks, which are sub par to most anything else the band have ever produced. Out of 11 tracks the band have also opted to include two cover tracks, which in my book is a sign of decline in terms of proving yourself. A sign that the band have run dry of ideas or maybe even worse lost the hunger and passion. Both the U2 cover "I Will Follow" and the Killing Joke cover "Millennium" are performed really well and fits well on the album, but I would have prefered to have them placed on an EP or a single and have them replaced by two original tracks instead.

It´s no surprise that the musicianship on the album is excellent. I would never question the skills of Fear Factory. Well... Burton C. Bell isn´t a great singer meassured on skills or perfect pitch, but he has a unique style that´s instantly recognisable. He doesn´t sound very inspired on this album though and again it´s all a little sterile and uninspired. I´m really searching for that breathtaking moment of bliss that some of the early albums had plenty of, but it never comes.

The sound production sounds like a Sepultura or Korn album from the mid-90s but it´s seriously lacking bottom end heaviness, and it´s hard not to come away a bit underwhelmed by the quality of the production. So upon conclusion "Transgression" is unfortunately an album where Fear Factory lost the momentum they had built with "Archetype", and the disagreements during the recording process and other issues led to yet another acrimonious break-up of the band in 2006. Bell would ressurrect Fear Factory along with former guitarist Cazares in 2009 and re-recruited bassist Stroud and recruited new drummer Gene Hoglan to complete the lineup. Olde Wolbers and Herrera were not asked to rejoin, and didn´t hear about the Fear Factory reunion before it was in the press, and legal battles over the Fear Factory name therefore followed. Stressful and chaotic years in the band´s history indeed. So "Transgression" is not only a standard quality release in terms of metal as a whole, it´s a sub par release in term of Fear Factory´s discography and as written above the album set all sorts of negativity in motion...a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.