In case you forgot or were not alive, the late 1990s was a time when every Metal record label was jumping on the bandwagon of trend-hopping and hunting for the next “big thing” mostly Nu Metal or Nirvana’s take on pre-Grunge revival of Punk vibes. With almost no websites yet, pundits at music magazines, radio, and MTV, had declared metal dead (many bands would say otherwise, all the while the underground excelled like never before with stellar releases.
Like many of the Roadrunner Records label bands of the ’90s, Fear Factory also had a strong debut, a genre classic for a sophomore record, and was poised to make an impact with their third release In this case 1998’s Obsolete. Demanufacture put them on the map, but Obsolete kicked the building down like Godzilla too. In retrospect, the album holds up incredibly well after 25 years, and is still the band’s biggest album on streaming to date.
As with most Fear Factory albums, the credit giving begins with Dino Cazares. The style he invented on earlier releases, he perfected here. In addition to Cazares expanding on their sound, Burton C. Bell breathed life into the album’s themes with a fully-fledged dystopian story in which machines have taken over the planet. Although the man versus machine concept is an extension of the entire ethos of the band and really their brand, the story of Obsolete was fully realized from the jump. In many ways, this makes it the greatest Fear Factory album, although I’m sure purists will stay loyal to Demanufacture.
The vast majority of the album is classic sounding from the rapid-fire staccato riff of the opening track shock The band spared neither your feelings nor your senses with the extremeness of the music, the melodies only serving as a temporary balm. Many tracks were delivered with unbridled ferocity and technicality.
Tracks like “Smasher/Devourer,” “Securitron – Police State,” “High Tech Hate,” “Freedom Or Fire” and the title track just cave your head in. Obsolete has moments that feel frenetic and so unrelenting, it’s like a good quality sounding grindcore alum.
The real special sauce is when the band stretches out and takes some risks musically. The unique songs on the album really carried it over the top. “Edgecrusher” – with its almost hard rock-meets Rap Metal balls so hard in a way that slightly echoes the popularity of Nu Metal (Nu Metal bands were really inspired by FF and Faith No More, among others). Burton raps like a pro and sounds natural at it. It’s still a fan-favorite live, to this day. The most catchy songs are “Resurrection,” “Descent”, and the somber and haunted closer “Timelessness.” With its incredible melodic mournful wail and hopeful chorus, led by Bell “Resurrection” is also shown much love. The album’s centerpiece is actually “Descent’ which has a quality similar to “Freak On A Leash which came out a few months prior. Bell has said it was one of the most personal songs on the album and is an emotional powder keg. After many performances on the tour for the release, this song was also a showstopper live.
Yes, many people will cite the cover of Gary Numan’s “Cars” and its great video as the reason that propelled this album into the mainstream. Roadrunner’s propensity to re-release albums in digipacks and special CD editions with extra content (mostly scarce) to make more money, was their go-to move back then. Dino even complained about this to Ghost Cult in an interview many years ago! Especially after the hype of the label really taking off the way it did with FF labelmates pre-Slipknot like Sepultura, Type O Negative, Life Of Agony, Biohazard, Machine Head, they were naturally going to be the next one of these bands to connect en masse. The band did a great job with the track, and it seemed like a very fitting way to match 1980s post-Punk and the brutal side of Industrial Metal. However, if the rest of the album wasn’t great, people would have fallen off after the “Cars” single hype faded out. Recall, there was no streaming at this time. In addition, I wonder if the band didn’t resent the success a little bit, because I remember seeing them on the Snowcore Tour, and new fans being pissed that all the songs didn’t sound like the hit, inspiring Burton to scream the final chorus of “Cars” as if it was “Replica!” While it might have been off-putting to these new fans, it was awesome and hilarious to me and all the old heads in the room that night.
Every track the band laid from the begging led them to this moment. The sound Dino had envisioned, the story Burton wanted to tell just elevated the entire experience for the fan and listeners. With producer and Rhys Fulber contributing keyboards and co-production was no more a secret weapon, it was an arsenal. Christian Olde-Wohlvers’s bass throughout the album also bolstered the sound. Raymond Herrera played more tastefully, but no less heavy on this record. Some of his best drumming ever is present on this album.
Obsolete stands the test of time, and I’m fairly certain the band understood when they were making it, just how big this record was going to be for them. It was a leap forward for the genre as well.
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WORDS BY KEEFY