858. Fear Factory / Genexus. 2015. 3/5

The news of a new release from Fear Factory still breeds in me growing expectation, that perhaps this new album will not only improve on all of the great things that were on the previous album, but that it will finally fix or eradicate those things that annoyed the hell out of me on that previous album. It is something that I guess I have thought about for most of the band's albums of the past fifteen years, and while there have been occasions where I have been happy with the results, I can't say I have ever felt completely comfortable with the resulting album when I first put in on the CD player. As you may well already know, that hasn't changed with the release of Genexus.

If you don't like drums being at front and centre in your mix of your music, then you are in the wrong place, because that's where they are. As is now the main, the machine gun drumming of the double kick drum is what takes prominence throughout, except when Burton's hardcore lyrics are in the frame. As always, the vocals switch often between the hard and loud variety which crash out of you speakers and smash into your senses, while the clear variety settle into the background behind the wall of sound coming at you. There is always a clear context between the two, which works mostly on the level that the clear vocals for me are still just too weedy when they come in. They aren't really sung with gusto either, it still feels as though they are being forced and are reaching for something they can't attain. Anyway, the same old prejudices still exist from me in that respect.
The album starts off rapid fire with "Autonomous Combat System", one of the best songs on the album, perhaps the best. "Protomech" is better than average in this respect as well, and I do like "Battle for Utopia". Then there is what can be labelled as Generic Fear Factory, songs such as "Anodized", "Soul Hacker", "Genexus", which barrel along with the same intensity and drum beat (possibly programmed) and riff and vocal duality as most Fear Factory songs have done for the past fifteen years. That's not a criticism outright, it's just a general fact, and if you like Fear Factory you will get no less enjoyment from these as you have from those in the past.
I again have problems with the closing track on a Fear Factory album. "Expiration Date" flops along barely raising a hand in anger. Clear vocals dominate, there's no riff, and we fade out to a couple of minutes of almost silence again. What the hell is this? The Fear Factory version of a ballad?!? Obviously there are people out there who are critical of the similarity of most of the band's music, but this is just so far off course it feels like it comes from Bizarro Fear Factory! How on earth am I supposed to cope with this kind of closing song on an album. Sorry, this is like missing a kick from the penalty spot.

It really has all been said before. The Fear Factory groove has been set, and each album follows it to the letter. It's a world away from albums such as Demanufacture and Obsolete, and in so many ways it all feels so mechanised now (no pun intended) that a machine could actually write and play it. There is still some great stuff here, and overall the album is still enjoyable to listen to, but there are also those couple of factors that for me just drag it back towards the average. Modern day fans may well disagree, but the time to introduce some solo work in the mix, and perhaps toughening up those clear vocals, has surely arrived in order to give the band a reboot.

Rating:  I'm a revelation of your future and past.  3/5