Mechanize

In the early ‘90s, many years before Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall started combining strangled growls with catchy vocal melodies, and Static-X and Rammstein began blended pounding staccato riffs and jackhammer beats with electronic samples, Los Angeles future-thinkers Fear Factory were reinventing both death metal and industrial rock with an arsenal of sonic styles, releasing four critically acclaimed albums and two industrial remix EPs, selling over a million albums in the process.
Following a gruelling tour with Machine Head in 2002, the creative core of Fear Factory imploded due to personal differences and sheer over-exertion. Guitarist and songwriter Dino Cazares went on to play with Brujeria and Asesino and vocalist Burton C. Bell took a few months off before eventually reforming the band and releasing two more records over the next few years. Without Cazares in the mix, however, Fear Factory was missing a key element of its sound and wound up feeling like a shadow of their former selves.
As time passed, the chance of a reunion between Bell and Cazares seemed less and less likely. Then in April 2008, a full six years after they had last spoken, Bell, then touring with Ministry, ran into Cazares at the band's Los Angeles show and reopened the lines of communication. "I just said ‘hey, how you doing?' and it started from there," Bell says. Not long thereafter Bell and Cazares were jamming again. With bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan (Dethklok, Strapping Young Lad), Fear Factory was back and ready for action.
The result of their union, Mechanize, is a full-fisted blast of passion and innovation that sounds like the missing link between's 1995's caustic, groundbreaking Demanufacture and 1998's more texturally nuanced Obsolete. Songs like "Industrial Discipline" and "Powershifter" are crushing and colossal, melding rhythms as fast and precise as Uzi blasts with vocals that pinwheel from raw and scathing to hauntingly melodic. While "Fear Campaign," which features harrowing spoken word passages, quickly segues into a showcase of punishing beats, rapid-fire riffs and ghostly keyboards. And for the first time in years, the band's industrial roots glimmer through its street-lethal metal, thanks in part to the co-production efforts and keyboard programming of Rhys Fulber, who worked on Fear Factory's industrial remix albums Fear is the Mindkiller and Remanufacture.
While both Bell and Cazares agree that it's sometimes hard to juggle all the projects they're working on, they've both got Fear Factory on the front-burner and they're as excited about the band again as they were in the early ‘90s. Moreover, they're approaching it with a new level of maturity and professionalism. "We've all changed a bit as people over the years," Bell says. "We've developed patience and we've had some humbling experiences. And when those things happen you realize that the types of battles we had in the past are just a waste of time. And time is precious."