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Fear Factory > Remanufacture > Reviews
Fear Factory - Remanufacture

Techno Fear Factory Pt.2 - 65%

Stained Glass Assassin, March 22nd, 2019

Shortly after the release of "Soul of a New Machine", Fear Factory dropped "Fear is the Mindkiller". This EP contained songs from their debut, but with a heavy techno sounding influence, which remixed and re-imaged the song’s original sound. After 1995's "Demanufacture" the band would, once again, decide to take tracks from their latest release and remix them with yet another hefty dose of techno and electronic sounds to alter their genetic makeup. The result is the compilation album "Remanufacture" This compilation offers more than just a handful of songs "Fear is the Mindkiller" delivered as it is, for the most part the majority of the songs from "Demanufacture" just in a more techno light. (Hence the name “Remanufacture”)

To my ear the techno vibe is just as present as their 1993 EP, but the overall sound is a little more complete. Whereas "Fear is the Mindkiller" worked only with bits and pieces of the vocals from the original tracks, "Remanufacture" sees the remixed songs maintain a large majority of their original makeup, including the vocals and then adds the techno twist. Think of it as more of a techno infusion, rather than a remix. Electronic sounds and synthesizers are heavily used to transform the make up of the original songs, but keep much of their DNA intact. The difference between "Fear is the Mind Killer" and this release is the poopy sounding nature. "Fear is the Mindkiller" retained a very heavy metal resonance with techno vibes, "Remanufactre" has a more poppy, dance club sounding techno vibe to it. The majority of the songs have a repetitive nature of the sounds that become repetitious, which creates an almost mesmerizing effect. Thick and drawn out bass accompanies most of the songs, which only adds to the club sounding industrial sound. Once again, Ryhs Fulber works his programming and electronic magic to make this techno compilation possible, showing how vital his industrial touch is to the band’s overall sound and identity.

As a whole, I enjoyed "Remanufacture" more than I did "Fear is the Mindkiller" largely due to the fact that, despite being techno remixes, the original source of each song is much more identifiable and recognizable. That being said, once again, unless you’re a techno fan or a die heard Fear Factory fan, this album may not be your cup of tea.

Into the Abyss of Oblivion

The Royal Seal of Gayness (3rd in class). - 0%

hells_unicorn, March 26th, 2009

I’m not exactly at the forefront when it comes to the negative consequences of project MK-ULTRA, but I’d venture to guess that this pile of sonic drivel was somehow connected to one or two of them. That’s the only logical explanation for a band taking an already boring and redundant Machine Head meets Pantera groove metal album in “Demanufacture” and turning it into a 64 minute long bad LSD trip at a 2AM rave party. Either that, or Dino Cazares and company essentially predicted the rise of the “American Pie” movie character otherwise known as The Shermanator, 2 years before the movie came out no less, and emulated his personality through the musical medium. If that’s the case, maybe the makers of this also feel sorry for it enough that they’ll decided to give it the hot Czechoslovakian chick in the sequel, but no such thing will happen if it‘s up to me.

If Type O Negative are going to be the subject of ridicule for the endless streams of remixes of their songs located on various single b-sides, it should be noted that said band never succeeded in stripping the metal edge from any of their songs. By contrast, Fear Factory have all but completely phased the guitar out of existence, save a few sparse entries spread out at key points within this sea of studio gimmicks and computer sounds. Whatever riffs are able to be located in this musical game of “Where’s Waldo” are usually either two note idea farts comparable to what can be heard on “Roots” or slowed down chugging lines that were probably lifted off of “Chaos A.D.”. But what this lacks in guitar sound it more than makes up for with goofy electronic drum sounds and over-processed vocals. If this isn’t enough to make you break out your glow-in-the-dark lip gloss and hair coloring, all of the Ecstasy in the world won’t help you dude.

Between all the cybernetic Dadaism and droning boredom a very clear pattern emerges, endless repetition without any interesting ideas to drift off into dream world with. Sectional changes, though at times abrupt, are as mechanical as the clanks and auditory zigzags that can only function to the detriment of a listener’s IQ level. Plainness becomes even more apparent in the percussion work, which contains enough straight beats to make AC/DC’S entire back catalog seem gay in comparison (pun intended). “Cloning Technology” and “Genetic Blueprint” are grade A examples of hypnotic songs with redundant drum beats played by a machine since their too damn boring for most human drummers to stand playing for 5 minutes plus. Then of course there is the purposeless 30 second caprice “Bionic Chronic”. Going to the rave and only packing weed guys? You pussies!

But my own facetiousness aside, my reaction begs the question as to how I came into possession of this sordid abomination. Truth be told, I got it out of a discount bin at an FYE in Baltimore about 6 years ago for $4, and I still feel cheated. When I measure it against all of the various Cds I’ve encountered mocking the good name of heavy metal, it’s pretty close to the bottom of the barrel. But one positive side of the album is that it doesn’t try to pretend to be a metal album, which is more than I can say for “Roots” or “The Burning Red”. If you want to hear a solid mix of industrial music and metal out of these guys, check out either “Soul Of A New Machine” or “Archetype”, and leave this crap to people who are too tripped out to tell the difference between the rave hipsters they’re partying with and the purple demons their bad score dredged up from their subconscious.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on March 26, 2009.

The factory hits the raves and night clubs... - 89%

Funeral_Shadow, February 20th, 2006

Wow... I must really say that this is impressive! This has to be the best remix album of a metal album around. Many people bashed this album as being some "money grabber" or some waste of time making "techno" remixes, but it isn't. People cannot realize how hard it is to make remixes of songs, and at that, remixes of metal songs. I love the original Demanufacture songs, but I also love some of these tracks here... it's an interesting look at how a song can be changed and manipulated to be something completely different.

Now for those who say that this is just techno and whatnot... they obviously don't know what they're talking about. This is a blend of, indeed, some techno, but there are also trip-hop remixes, industrial, trance, hardcore (in the raving sense), and even some break beats here and there. So as it is, this is a very diverse remix album with a variety of dance styles and genres. This is unlike Fear Factory's last remix album "Fear Is The Mindkililer." That last remix album was, for the most part, industrial remixes of death metal songs (which ended up being interesting yet funny to hear an industrial beat with growls) and those tracks weren't as manipulated as the tracks on this CD.

To easily delineate each track, here's a list of how the tracks play out:

Remanufacture (Demanufacture): a techno remix which isn't the best track on the CD, but makes for a good opener on the CD. It's progressive and has multiple changes.

National Panel Beating (Body Hammer): this is a trip-hop style kind of remix which is one of the better remixes on the album. This is one of the most manipulated songs on the whole CD where the whole song, and even lyrics, are changed up. This is a very "chill back" track with it's piano chords playing throughout the music.

Genetic Cloning (New Breed): this is my personal favorite track on the CD. It's a trip-hop/break beat style remix which has the "nu-metalish" main guitar riff constantly playing through the track non-stop. It's sure to get you "noggin'" your head to the infectious beats... yes, I said infectious, so what?!

Faithless (Zero Signal): this my favorite track off of the Demanufacture album but not on this album. It's a mix between trance/industrial and some break beats. It's a "soft" hitter to say the least on the album and it's not as manipulated as the other tracks are; it's just mixed over with some various beats and synths. The lyrics flow through the track as they had in the original song version. It's an intoxicating trip if ya ask me.

Bionic Chronic: This is an interlude track... if ya ask me, it's pointless. Skip it...

Cloning Technology (Replica): ahhh yes... this is the big hit single off of Demanufacture... and somehow, I never really liked the original song. Even on this album, you'd expect it to be a great remix song (well this CD is also known as "Cloning Technology" so you would assume so) but it's not a great remix. Replica has never really been such an energetic song and neither is this trip-hop version of the song,

Burn (Flashpoint): ironically, this remix is much more enjoyable than the original version of this song. This is a techno/breakbeat style remix which is a mid-paced fun track.

T-1000 (H-K): now let's talk heavy... this is the only track on this CD which is a hardcore remix (in the raving sense.) All you hear on this track is a heavy bass drum and the main riff in H-K being played. This is definitely the most energetic track on the whole entire album. If raving is your thing, then this is your track.

Machines Of Hate (Self Bias Resistor): another great track from Demanufacture gets dubbed into a fast techno remix. I'm not much of a big fan of techno but this really gets me listening all the time.

21 Century Jesus (Pisschrist): perhaps the most epic remix on this album is this techno/industrial dubbed track of Pisschrist. It's progressive and ambience which makes for a relaxing listen.

Bound For Forgiveness (A Therapy For Pain): the last of the remixes, which is an ambience track with trip-hop and industrial. It's the best way to end a remix album with a long, trippy song.

Refinery: this is the only track on this CD newly composed by Fear Factory, and it's nothing but an echoing sound. Eh... who decided to put this on the CD?!

The last track is an edit of the Remanufacture track. This is probably the track they decided to use to promote the CD on radio and whatnot. I don't notice much of a difference between this and the other Remanufacture track... well the only difference is that this is a shorter version of the original.

This is only for the open-minded who are looking to expanding their musical senses out of the metal boundaries. It's as Fear Factory explains this remix album: "Open minds shall dominate and breed." I could've not said it any better than that. This is a great remix album and probably the best one you'll ever find among metal bands.


Ear Candy: All of the tracks.

Very catchy - 85%

HealthySonicDiet, December 13th, 2003

Although I'm not too familiar with Demanufacture(the only song I've heard from it is Zero Signal), I can say that this remix album is very good. People who have actually heard Demanufacture may not appreciate this album because they may think that the originals were terribly bastardized. Ignorance is bliss for me however, for reasons I've already stated. This release can stand out on its own as an unexpectedly headbangable fusion of electronica and metal.

The title track opens the album with a mindblowing fury of electronica and metal that rages like a dark horse of the apocalypse. Later in the song there is an 'electronic' drum solo that is very mesmerizing. This song could hold its own in a techno rave party.

The second song is National Panel Beating and begins with ominous piano playing and clean, spiteful vocals that give way to Burton C. Bell's trademark ranting. I really enjoy his voice, both when he is clean singing and when 'growling'. He has a way of blending a Meshuggah-like rant style with a death metal growl and it's totally cool.

Following this is Genetic Blueprint. This sounds like a song that would fit well on a video game. Maybe a fighting game or a racing game. Great amalgam of techno and metal.

The fourth song is the remix of Zero Signal. Though I am quite a fan of the original, the remix is quite disappointing. There's just not much going for it. The beat is lackluster and the keyboards are just weird.

Track 5 is Bionic Chronic. This is just an interlude, but it's damn cool. This is the kind of song you would play if you were driving through the streets in a Lamborghini trying to pick up babes.

Next is Cloning Technology, which begins with harsh techno that sounds like the winds of a hurricane before erupting into some more harsh drum playing. Then, it's to a simple metal melody. The pre-chorus is especially cool because it is a vocal crescendo.

I don't easily recall track 7, so I'll move on to track 8, T-1000. This is killer, folks. It consists of a pounding bass-line with hand-clapping and complementary wicked guitar-riffing, with plenty of interesting vocal layering to boot.

Machines of Hate is the following song and it's one of the most syncopated of the album, if not the most. The chorus is particularly uplifting.

21st Century Jesus is absolutely wicked. It's not as overtly exciting as many of the other songs, but it has a creepy atmosphere. It begins with the lyrics "Body of Christ" repeated over and over again. This isn't explicitly blasphemic, but as a Christian it is a little disquieting. The melody on this song would fit very well on an Enya album it's so relaxing. Well, that is before the apocalyptic guitar/electronica onslaught surfaces. Often, I have difficulty discerning if a guitar is playing or if it is a synthesizer. Oh well. Towards the end of this song there is some super-dense guitar riffs consisting of about 4 notes each.

Track 11 is Bound For Forgiveness, and it is very atmospheric like its predecessor, yet less straightforward. This is what it would sound like if you were trapped in a dark, desolate swamp in another dimension. Very brooding. T
Track 12, Refinery, is next and it's nothing more than just a composition of various refinery sounds.(metal clashing together, etc.) Nothing special, but quite relaxing.

Finally, track 13 is the edited version of Remanufacture. Obviously since this is the edited version of the first track, it's a little different. However, I can't note the difference off the top of my head. Basically, it's the same song over again. It's a lame idea, but at least it's not unlistenable.

When trying to decide if this album is more electronica/techno or metal, I'd say the former, but there's enough metal on this album for a metalhead to enjoy. For those of you have Demanufacture and enjoy it, listen to this album with an open mind. As for me, I hold it in high regard. Overall, this album is quite catchy, headbangable, and would be good to rave to.