Issue #8: Fear Factory – Obsolete

Release Date:  July 28th, 1998

Digipack:  March 23rd, 1999

Recorded:  February – May 1998

Genre:  Industrial Metal

Record Label:  Roadrunner

Producers:  Fear Factory, Rhys Fulber, Greg Reely

Personnel

Track Listing

Singles

Why Obsolete is One of My Favorites

Thus far, Fear Factory is probably the least mainstream band I’ve featured in this series.  They’ve seen airplay, made music videos, and have become famous for their talents, but you’ll need to be in touch with more strictly “metal” outlets to run across them, as opposed to the “rock” that my other favorites have fallen under.  Obsolete itself is a metal album first and foremost, peppered with industrial markings and moods.  There’s a fair bit of electronic accompaniment, along with the use of processors, sampling, and a driving concept perfectly at home in the world of industrial music.

Unlike many concept albums, Fear Factory provides a sort of movie script with the record that explains what’s happening in the story.  Just listening to the lyrics may not give it away, but it all fits together nicely enough when following along with the band’s notes. Essentially we follow a man known as the “Edgecrusher” in his struggle to bring down some type of dystopian, totalitarian, mechanical regime.  Fear Factory has made remarks on the setting, to the effect of Orwell’s novel 1984 meets films like RoboCop and Terminator.

To be honest, I only ever stayed vaguely aware of this over-arching concept and have always been content to enjoy the album as is.  The story proper only spans 10 tracks, though the album was shortly reissued with 5 additional bonus tracks.  While Obsolete proper may only include those first 10, it is usually discussed with the inclusion of the 5 “non-concept” tracks.  And since this is the version of the album I grew up with, I’ll be doing the same.

Obsolete is crunchy, bass-heavy, textured, and leans a little towards groove metal at times with all its varied rhythms.  Drop-D tuning has long been the standard for easily getting a deeper, more grinding sound out of riffing, and many acts have experimented with dropping it a further step down to C.  On this record, Cazares drops his axe all the way down to A, resulting in a very fat, thick, and heavy sound.  To me, the general guitar sounds on Obsolete are the very definition of metal.  It literally sounds like metal scraping metal.  This downtuned churning persists throughout the album, with “Smasher/Devourer,” “Edgecrusher,” “Obsolete,” and “0-0” being some of the most pronounced examples.  At other times it takes on a more melodic approach, particularly in “Descent.”

Also contributing to the album’s lower registers is the incredible, truly metal-born drums.  There are “groovable” portions dotted around (“Freedom or Fire,” “Hi-Tech Hate”), but for the most part the drumming is heavy, hard, and fast, which ironically adds considerably to the treble with hi-hats and cymbals.  “0-0 (Where Evil Dwells)” is indeed the most evil sounding track of them all, with explosive bursts of extreme drumming, Bell’s growls and vocals at their deepest, and a plodding pace that embodies the feelings of fear and dread.

Bell’s vocals won’t appeal to everyone, but he does a great job of covering almost the entire vocal range of typical metal sub-genres.  Much of Obsolete is spent shouting (“Freedom or Fire,” “Smasher/Devourer,” “Hi-Tech Hate,” “Soulwound,” just to name a few), though he also breaks into a more traditional baritone singing voice during many choruses and bridges (“Securitron,” “Resurrection,” among others).   At times he emits growls and screams worthy of any death metal track, and he also utilizes an interesting borderline operatic technique in low octaves (“Resurrection,” ‘Timelessness,” “Descent”).  Despite Bell’s obviously natural talent for manipulating his voice in various ways, many song feature electronically modified vocals in some portions, further adding to a vocal diversity that most bands aren’t able to achieve.

Other electronic flourishes have made their way onto Obsolete, though their influence is subtle beyond their influence on existing instruments.  Small sounds occasionally accentuate the mix, along with voice sampling that ties into the album’s concept.  “Resurrection” contains a wonderful string arrangement that shines through the mix near the end while its following track is album’s only synth-laden cut.  The judicious use of electronic elements helps to keep Obsolete fully rooted in “metal,” and it only very slightly makes is way into the industrial metal realm.

And who can forget about “Cars”?  Gary Numan sings a cover of his own song, faithfully metallicized by Fear Factory.  Even the backing sound effects from the original are used.  It’s a fun little diversion even if it does stick out a little.

I have to be in a certain mood to fully enjoy the forcefulness behind Obsolete.  “Crushing” is a good way to describe the bulk of it, especially with its deep bass and machine gun drums.  I much prefer this type of metal to the sometimes thin and rhythmically uninteresting aspects found in what many purists would define the genre with.  Obsolete is abrasive, confrontational, and intense, with a certain welcome variety provided by Bell’s various means of delivery.  It can be both dark and uplifting, and Fear Factory’s diverse approach keeps the record refreshing time and time again.

Written by The Cubist

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Written by The Cubist

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I collect as much video gaming paraphernalia as I can get my hands on, especially when it comes to hardware. With over 40 systems including oldies like the ColecoVision and Intellivision, obscurities like the CD-i and 3DO, and the latest and greatest including the Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, and PS Vita, I get easily overwhelmed. Most of the time you can find me firmly nestled sometime between 1985 and 1995 when it comes to my games of choice, but I’m also having a great time seeing what the 8th generation has to offer.

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