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Album Reviews : Fear Factory – Genexus

By on August 19, 2015

fear-factory-genexusIndustrial metal veterans Fear Factory are back with their ninth album Genexus. It is their first via Nuclear Blast.

Genexus is a concept album and it is a continuation on 2012’s The Industrialist; the word being a hybrid of two words, genesis and nexus. This word describes the next transition in human evolution as man moves forward to a “mechanical” state of being. During my interview with Dino Cazares last week I asked him about it, this was his response:

“Well, conceptual-wise it’s the singularity process. On the album it is here now. It’s pretty much about a human/machine hybrid and what it’s going through to survive in society. Military, how they’re using the technology. Wars. Assassination. We talk about how there’s basically a little computer cell that’s injected into your body that can actually kill certain types of cells. It gets into your blood stream. What else.. We are going to use robots for sex. Female hookers. Female robot hookers.”

The concept is evident in both the lyrics and the music itself. The overall vibe is futuristic and dystopian. The album opener “Autonomous Combat System” is a heavy hitter with chugging guitars and soaring choruses signed Burton C. Bell. The sound is pretty much trademark Fear Factory, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you like what the band is doing, but there’s not much evolution going on here regarding the songwriting.

The start to the album isn’t that convincing actually. If you would treat most songs on Genexus as singles they would all be bloody good singles. However, many of the songs sound similar and predictable. That’s why songs like “Anodized” and “Dielectric“ are great when you listen to them separately, but when you’re listening to Genexus in its entirety they fade a bit.

There are some tracks that really stand out though. “Soul Hacker” is already a crowd favourite. It is heavy, bouncy and extremely groovy. And then we have “Protomech”, which is without a doubt the best song on the album. It has a drive, that combined with the keys and electronics makes it absolutely addictive. I find myself humming along to the chorus all the time. “Battle For Utopia” and “Regenerate” are two other tracks that surface above ‘good’.

See, this is the problem I have with Genexus. It is by no means whatsoever a bad record, but many of the songs are just too similar. The robotic clean vocals works extremely well at times, but listening to them in every song becomes a bit of a nuisance. That being said, it is a solid album with very few actual lows, but also not enough highs.

About

Martin is an aspiring music photographer/videographer. He is originally from the southern parts of Sweden and now he's living in Sydney, Australia. Thanks to his older sister, he got into Rammstein at the age of 9, and since then he's been into all types of metal/rock. He loves to combine photography and music, but also filming concerts and produce live material. Follow him on Twitter and check out his website.