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Obsolete

Fear Factory - Obsolete Audio CD

A fair review of the Fear Factory "Obsolete" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Fear Factory reviews here, or go back to the Fear Factory tabs.

Band: Fear Factory
Title: Obsolete
Rating:

Release Date: 1998-10-27
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Shock 2: Edgecrusher 3: Smasher/Devourer 4: Securitron (Police State 2000) 5: Descent 6: Hi-Tech Hate 7: Freedom or Fire 8: Obsolete 9: Resurrection 10: Timelessness 11: O-O (Where Evil Dwells) 12: Soulwound [*]

So That's It
I had loved everything up to this point with the exception for their techno/dance remixes that I had hoped they had tired of. Hopelessly behind in my Fear Factory purchasing, I just got this one last week.
Thankfully none of that is here. . . but in it's place is a screaming that replaces the death metal growl that immediately sent up a red flag for me.

Then there is the rappish sound on the song "Edgecrusher" that is another strange moment for them. All this combined immediately puts them into the category of bands such as Korn, Corrosion Of Corformity, Helmet, Biohazard, and Prong. There are at least a couple songs on here where I thought for sure it was Korn and not FF playing to give an example, all those bands IMO are and were pretty good in their own right, but I really didn't expect to hear them on a FF release. I know this was released in the summer of '98 and perhaps it was the sound of the times on radio and what record company's were pushing, but this is Fear Factory; not those above mentioned bands. But at some points it's hard to distinguish, and that is my problem with many of these songs on here. Some of the old Fear Factory sound is there, thankfully there are clean vocals still going through many of the songs. I am hoping my mind will open up to other songs on here other than a handful of favs as time goes by, really not sure.

One thing I was just thinking was that maybe they put too much into the story and tried to make it too accessible (toned it down). . . maybe they wanted to fit in more with the sounds of the times.
I really don't like it when a band has a good sound that is pretty original and identiful, and then go and sound like everybody else just because they still aren't getting accepted by the mainstream. The reason you are not getting accepted is because alot of bad bands are being mass marketed to young kids and they are buying it up (disposable late 90's bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and hundreds of others trying to sound like Korn and even Fear Factory etc. ). . . I wanna say "dude's, stick to your guns, don't sink to their level!" All the one star reviews on this one really don't go into detail other than they obviously don't like it at all. Now it is not a good sign when you have fans of terribly unoriginal bands listening to and reviewing your CD, and hating it. So you tried to appeal to this crowd and they hate it, now what did we learn?
To me this experiment has failed.

Anyway, up to this point this is my least fav FF studio release by far. And I am skeptical on getting the next studio release, so this might be it for me. I can see where they were going next, and I'm going back and listening to the first couple CD's, perhaps they needed to also.

It may not sound like it, but there were some songs on there I liked quite well. I guess it shows how much I love(d) this band when even on a CD I don't like overall I find a few gems, right?

My top five fav songs here are
1. Securitron
2. Smasher/Devourer
3. Shock
4. Hi-Tech Hate
5. Resurrection.

Overall, not a horrible CD. . . . just not what I expected, and they changed too much. Maybe if what they changed into was just a tad bit original and they invented something new, well yes it would be great; but this is just a step backward in the wrong direction. .

A musical Novel which became a masterpeice....
Open the booklet to the obsolete album and you see a tale of what man is becoming, a time where robots and technology over run their creators. . this woeful tale is done beautifully in rich ORIGINAL heavy metal. . . From the heavy Freedom or Fire to the soft Timelessness this album got it all also limited edition album with the 5 extra songs (0-0 (Where evil Dwells), Concreto,Cars (A waste to have on the CD but still better then the original),Soulwound and Messiah) is a must have. Just to tell you the love for the CD I have. . . it was one of my top CD's of all time. . . Loved it back when it first came out and I still love it 10 years later.

It's Good, But I Can't Say It's Perfect
"Obsolete"

I have 2 of Fear Factory's CDs, "Demanufacture" and this. Fear Factory. I'm working on getting "Archetype". "Obsolete" is somewhat of a concept album, about Edgecrusher, killing two people thingies Smasher/Devourer and Securitron. At least I think it is.

This isn't really hard, at times it is, but it's mostly either soft or just kinda hard. This doesn't apply to "Shock", however, which starts the album off with a bang, and is also the loudest song on the disc.

I would have preferred getting the new "Special Edition" of Obsolete, which contains 5 new tracks, but I got this off of eBay for 3 bucks, so I'm okay with it. Let's take a rundown of the tracks.

1) Shock: As I said before, it starts off loud. A little 10-second opener thingy, then the guitars and drums kick in and at around 30 seconds, Burton Bell screams out "SHOCK!" Starts off fast and good.
10/10
2) Edgecrusher: Not as hard as "Shock", but it's still kind of fast. Continues on as really good.
10/10
3) Smasher/Devourer: I don't think this is as good as "Shock" or "Edgecrusher", but it's still kind of hard. Sort of memorable.
9/10
4) Securitron (Police State 2000): Starts off with policemen and women talking. It then goes into guitars and drums, which are good. It wasn't all that great however.
6/10
5) Descent: After disappointment from "Securitron", Fear Factory bounce right back up with the highlight of the disc, Descent. It isn't horribly fast or loud, but it's still great, and as I said is the best on the CD.
10/10
6) Hi-Tech Hate: This track was just okay, maybe it was just it was after "Descent", but it didn't stand out and it just wasn't really good.
6/10
7) Freedom Or Fire: Better than "Hi-Tech Hate" but still not all that great. But still a lot better than some of the songs on here.
8/10
8) Obsolete: After 2 kind of disappointing tracks, Obsolete's self titled song hits hard and suddenly, all the disappointment disappeared.
10/10
9) Resurrection: One of the 2 slowest songs on here, and it works out fine. Not a huge standout or anything, but still a good track.
9/10
10) Timelessness: Wow, the last track. Okay, but it still never really goes anywhere. This is the slowest song on the disc, which is acheived by a long shot, with not 1 fast part on the entire song. It's still okay. Nothing special.
7/10

This got an 85%, receiving 85 pts. out of 100. That would be about a 4, and that's what I would give it without rating the tracks one by one also. So that's what I'll give it.

I RECOMMEND BUYING THIS CD. NOT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED OR ANYTHING BUT IT IS STILL A GOOD CD. IF YOU DO NOT FEEL LIKE BUYING IT, FEEL FREE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOLLOWING SONGS:
"Shock", "Edgecrusher", "Descent", "Obsolete"

i GIVE FEAR FACTORY'S "OBSOLETE" A:
8 out of 10: A very good addition to your metal collection, but not perfect in every way either.

not their best...or perfect...but darn good.
demanufacture is smarter, heavier, and catchier. Not much to say about obsolete. soul of a new machine/concrete (i prefer to lump them together) is MUCH heavier with a death metal edge. archetype has the best grooves and shows just how big an influence this incredibly underrated band is on modern 'metalcore' or whatever genre label they like to put on bands like lamb of god, shadows fall, and between the buried and me nowadays.

unfortunetly, obsolete is not a must-have. if anything, i'd rate it my 3rd favorite FF album (i am yet to hear digimortal. . . but i dont exactly have high hopes for it).

however, it is still worth buying if youre a fan, and is a decent place to start if you're looking into this band.

shock is an amazing opener with amazing drum work (the norm for FF), edgecrusher. . . well its definetly commercial and all, but really. . . what's the big problem? it'll get caught in your head, and they didn't sell out BECAUSE of this song. smasher/devourer has a good melodic/scream ratio, and a killer outro. securitron passes by sort of fast, but has a great chorus.

descent is easily my favorite track on the cd. why, you ask? its the best handled melodic rocker fear factory ever did. the chorus is, to put it lightly, beautiful, and the rest of the song is excellent. high-tech hate is the heaviest on the cd, with a near-blastbeat in portions (FF's blastbeats are like machine guns. . . but better). freedom or fire is rather techno-ey. . . drum-wise, at least, and it shouldn't be frowned upon for any reason. obsolete is my second favorite-very heavy, moves fast, "MAN IS OBSOLETE" replete with thrash pattern easily makes this song worth it.

resurection is easily the biggest departure FF had done up to this time. melodic, ballady. . . oh wait. then it gets heavy. it retains its emotional impact, however. timelessness is the big departure here-strings and all, its a BIG departure. (once you listen to transgression, however, you'll think FF is departing from their beaten path just to say they've done it)

should you buy it? if you're a fan, there's no reason not to. if you're new to fear factory, try demanufacture, or if you can't find it, archetype. new to metal? eh. . . either or of demanufacture/archetype (but DEFINETLY not soul or concrete. . . the brutality of those two frightens even me sometimes).

peace.

quite good!
i like the lyrics very much! this may be their greatest album ever! they have only two classic albums. . others are not so good! i like the vocals very very much! they play instruments very good. the bass guitar and drums are especially good!.

You can see a complete list of all Fear Factory discography, or go back to the Fear Factory tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.