Moderate Rock

A lack of progression can make a band stale. Not so with Fear Factory. If 2010’s comeback of sorts ‘Mechanize’ was a slight return then this thing makes a kick-the-door-in motherfucker of an entrance. Bristling with all the things the band does best, ‘The Industrialist’ entirely forgets the nu-metal lapses of the past, sweeps away with the clutter of pre-hiatus album ‘Transgression’, skims off the fat and leaves only quality. Aggressive, mechanical riffs, clean, clipped rhythms, industrial power and both Burton C Bell’s monstrous roar and angelic croon are all present and correct. Ok, these may be familiar cues but when the first digitised, pulverising drums kick in at the top of the title track, Fear Factory fans are going to flip their lid. It’s all you can eat too- ‘Recharger’ is a venomous, almost-punk rock rager until Bell really opens his lungs up, ‘New Messiah’ could be a leftover from the ‘Demanufacture’ days (about the highest compliment you can pay to a new Fear Factory song), and if it wasn’t for some weird squelchy effects in the verses, ‘God Eater’ would be one of the band’s best tunes ever. Development be damned then, Fear Factory do what they know here, and do it really fucking well.