It was the summer before entering high school and by that
time, I had been jamming out to a stable mostly fixed of Pantera, Overkill,
Metallica, but I was beginning to yearn for more metal. As fate would have it,
my older brother would offer me a CD that he said he didn’t enjoy, but knowing
I loved metal as much as I did, thought I might. The album in question was Fear
Factory’s 1998 release, “Obsolete”.
I remember staring at the cover of the album, not knowing
what to expect, but I was intrigued. I had never heard of the band before that
point, so whatever I would hear on this album would have to serve as the focal
point of my perception of the band. After my first listen, I was introduced to
a new and invigorating sound that hooked me from the get go. Now, of course, at
that time, the metal world was being turned upside down with the Nu metal
movement beginning to take over the mainstream airwaves and while I was aware
of such bands, I had yet to experience much of said craze. The same could be
said for any type of industrial metal as well, so I would essentially be
listening to an album with both Nu metal and industrial elements for the first
time. “Obsolete” would open my eyes to a world beyond the thrash and American
groove metal that had constantly been blasting from my old boom box and introduce
me to what would eventually become, my all-time favorite band.
Being 14 at the time, I was young, wet behind the ears and
filled with teenage angst. Music had always (and still is) been one of my
methods of dealing with the rigors of life and while the heading banging thrash
assault of Metallica and Megadeeth combined with the pissed off shouts of
Pantera were always at hand, “Obsolete” offered something new and unique. I
remember listening to Burton C. Bell’s harsh vocals and couldn’t help but lose
myself in the rage and violence in his voice. His unique blend of hoarse yells
and angry shouts convey so much emotion and conjure many internal images within
the listener. However, the true
curveball I experienced while listening to “Obsolete” would be the use of
Bell’s clean vocals. Up until that point, aside from a few ballads from the
aforementioned bands or some glam metal that I still listened to, clean singing
was simply not something that I sought out to hear in my metal. (Which is why I
didn’t get into power metal until late high-school) The chorus on “Shock” at
first caught me off guard. I was almost ready to pop the CD out as I thought
anything that wasn’t shouting, growling or guttural (I was really into
Testaments’ “Demonic” at the time.) than it simply wasn’t metal enough. But,
after hearing Bell’s voice, I simply couldn’t bring myself to stop the song. He
had captivated my attention and had me at a disposition. After replaying it
from the beginning, I immediately fell in love with the blend of his harsh and
clean vocals. Bell’s voice would continue to carry on throughout the album,
offering me the outlet to transmit my teenage aggression, but also transport me
to a more calming state of mind when his cleans kick in. To put it mildly, they
had a euphoric effect on me and still hold a certain mesmerizing effect on me
to this day.
Now, at the time, I was rooted in the sound of guitar greats
such as Kirk Hammett, Marty Friedman and Dime bag Darrel, so when I heard
Dino’s take on guitars, I’ll admit, I was left feeling a little underwhelmed.
Of course, this was not thrash metal, so to expect a shredding display of leads
and solos would be foolhardy however, after multiple listens (and I listened to
this album many, many times) the simplistic, yet catchy riffs would begin to
resonate with the sound of the album as a whole and I began to appreciate them
more. Their sound offers a robotic bite to the futuristic and cybernetic sound
of the album, a sound that is both groovy and crushing, but blissfully simple
in nature. Although I found myself initially disappointed that there were no
solos to be heard, eventually, I began to realize that their absence did not affect
my enjoyment of the album. The lack of solos may come off as a wasted
opportunity to poor songwriting, but they simply are not necessary to create
the foundation of sound for the album. The guitar’s offer enough substance and
power to root the songs to the industrial nature of the band, while creating
plenty of memorable hooks along the way.
The drums on “Obsolete” were like nothing I had heard
before. Granted, I had the pleasure of listening to Lars Ulrich and Vinnine Paul
for years, but Raymond Herrera’s blistering assault of percussion was an
entirely different beast altogether. The power and energy in the drums on
“Obsolete” are constantly in your face and force you pay them the attention
they deserve however; they are not so overbearing that they steal any other
instrument’s thunder by any means. In fact, the drums aside from serving as one
of the major rhythm generators of the album, create a sound that both sets it
apart from the rest of the instruments, yet at the same time, serves as a
beacon of harmony. This beacon allows the guitars, bass, vocals and special
effects to come together as once cohesive sound.
“Obsolete” was the first album where Dino no longer had to
man the bass duties, which would be handled by new comer; Christian Olde
Wolbers. Unlike “Demanufacture” the bass on “Obsolete” is felt throughout the
album and is even put in the spotlight on the song “Edgecrusher” It delivers a
thick and crunchy sound that reverberates with the mechanical sounding drums
and futuristic sounding vocals.
Once again, Rhys Fulber adds his industrial touch, giving
“Obsolete” a very unique sound and vibe to many of the songs. I’ve long
heralded his abilities as an unofficial member of the band and it’s easy to
understand once you hear his work on obsolete. Listen to the opening of
"Shock" to hear Rhys Fulber's work on programming. The sound is a
simple guitar riffs that he put through various programming modules to create
the awesome and unique sound.
Music aside and being a dumb kid at the time, it wasn’t
until on about my fifth listen that I finally decided to read the liner notes
and discovered that “Obsolete” was a concept album. It’s a story about
Edgecrusher, the protagonist, rising up and trying to destroying the machines
that humanity has become far too dependent upon. The booklet contains part of
the story, which is then intertwined with the actual songs and lyrics, which is
a neat concept in both ideal and execution. Almost like a graphic novel only
audible. Either way, it adds another awesome feature to this already wonderful
album, one that was like a second, first listen once I discovered the story
behind the music.
Although "Demanufacture" may have been Fear
Factory's most influential album of all time, "Obsolete" would become
their most successful in terms of sales. Along with their digipak material,
industrial rock legend, Gar Numan is featured on the band’s remake of “Cars”,
which would propel the album to gold status. Speaking of the digipak material,
it contains 5 additional tracks including the “Cars” remake. Although the
others are decent sounding sounds and fit the sound of “Obsolete” they had
nothing to do with the story and were ultimately left of the original track
list (as far as I can tell, as they don’t just sound like throwaway songs)
This was my first experience with Fear Factory when I was
kid and it immediately spawned my affection for the band. I always recommend
"Demanufacture" to any fan looking for metal suggestions, but almost
always suggest this as a follow up due to its mainstream success and overall
sound. It may not be a masterpiece in the eyes of others, but for me this album
is pure gold Jerry!
Rating: 5
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