Mechanize

Mechanize is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Fear Factory. It is the only album to feature Gene Hoglan on drums and the first since 2001's Digimortal to include original guitarist and founding member Dino Cazares, who rejoined the band after a reconciliation with lead vocalist Burton C. Bell, in April 2009. The album was produced by Rhys Fulber, who had not produced or been involved with a Fear Factory album since Archetype. The album has received mostly positive reviews from fans and music critics, being praised for its very aggressive and heavy sound. In its first week of release, the album sold 10,000 copies.

For the concept and process, see Mechanization.

Mechanize
Studio album by Fear Factory
Released	February 5, 2010 (2010-02-05)
Recorded	2009
Genre	Industrial metal groove metal thrash metal
Length	44:48
Label	Candlelight AFM
Producer	Rhys Fulber Fear Factory
Fear Factory chronology
Transgression (2005) Mechanize (2010) The Industrialist (2012)
Singles from Mechanize
"Powershifter" Released: November 10, 2009 "Fear Campaign" Released: February 4, 2010 "Final Exit" Released: April 20, 2010

Background

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	70%[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Blabbermouth	[3]
about.com	[4]

On April 7, 2009, vocalist Burton C. Bell and ex-guitarist Dino Cazares announced the reconciliation of their friendship, and the formation of a new project with Fear Factory bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan of Strapping Young Lad. On April 28, this project was revealed to be a new version of Fear Factory that effectively excluded former members Raymond Herrera and Christian Olde Wolbers.[5] Asked about the circumstances of their exclusion, Bell stated that "[Fear Factory]'s like a business and I'm just reorganizing... We won't talk about [their exclusion]."[6]

In June 2009, Wolbers and Herrera finally spoke about the issue on the radio program "Speed Freaks." Herrera revealed that technically, he and Wolbers had not left the band: "[Christian and I] are actually still in Fear Factory...[Burton and Dino] decided to start a new band, and furthermore, they decided to call it Fear Factory. They never communicated with us about it,".[7] Herrera went on to say that the original four members (Bell, Cazares, Wolbers, and himself) are contractually regarded as Fear Factory Incorporated, and said "it's almost like them two against us two, so it's kind of a stalemate." He also stated that he and Wolbers had written eight songs for the next Fear Factory record, but that a "personal disagreement" had come up between them and Bell, which left Bell unwilling to continue work with the band.[7]

Despite issues between the two parties, Fear Factory moved ahead with the recording process. In late July 2009, a short video shot with a cell phone showed Dino recording over drum tracks with longtime contributor Rhys Fulber. On November 9, 2009, album artwork for the album was revealed on blabbermouth.net.[8]

On February 2, 2010, the album's first official music video for the song "Fear Campaign" was released.[9] The song also includes a standard guitar solo passage, something highly uncharacteristic of Fear Factory's usual standard.

The song "Final Exit" is a title borrowed from Derek Humphry's 1991 book of the same name, which deals with the topic of self-chosen euthanasia.

The bonus track "Crash Test" is a re-recorded version from their 1992 debut album Soul of a New Machine. The band also re-recorded versions of "Martyr" (also from Soul of a New Machine), which is found on the Japanese edition of the album and "Sangre de Niños",[10] which has yet to be released.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Burton C. Bell; all music is composed by Cazares/Hoglan.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Mechanize"	Bell, Cazares, Hoglan	4:41
2.	"Industrial Discipline"	Bell, Cazares	3:38
3.	"Fear Campaign"	Bell, Cazares, Hoglan	4:54
4.	"Powershifter"	Bell, Cazares	3:51
5.	"Christploitation"	Bell, Cazares, Hoglan	4:58
6.	"Oxidizer"	Bell, Cazares	3:44
7.	"Controlled Demolition"	Bell, Cazares, Hoglan	4:25
8.	"Designing the Enemy"	Bell, Cazares, Sankey	4:55
9.	"Metallic Division"	Fulber, Cazares	1:30
10.	"Final Exit"	Bell, Cazares, Hoglan	8:18
Total length:			44:48

Digipak bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Crash Test" (Re-recorded version)	Bell, Cazares, Herrera	3:40

Japanese bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Martyr" (Re-recorded version)	Bell, Cazares, Herrera	4:20

Bonus downloads

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Big God" (Demo '91)	Bell, Cazares, Herrera	1:48
2.	"Self Immolation" (Demo '91)	Bell, Cazares, Herrera	2:55
3.	"Soul Wound" (Demo '91)	Bell, Cazares, Herrera	2:38

Charts

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Australian Albums Chart[11]	24
German Albums Chart[12]	31
Finnish Albums Chart[13]	31
Austrian Albums Chart[14]	46
Swedish Albums Chart[15]	51
Suisse Albums Chart[16]	70
U.S. Billboard 200[17]	72
Dutch Albums Chart[18]	87
French Albums Chart[19]	198

Personnel

• Burton C. Bell – lyrics, vocals ("Dry Lung Vocal Martyr")
• Dino Cazares – guitars ("Rhythms Of Mechanical Death"), bass ("Sonic Low End Pulsar Wave")
• Gene Hoglan – drums ("Continual Ammunition Barrage")
• Byron Stroud – bass
• Rhys Fulber – keyboards arrangements, piano (5), samples, programming ("Enhanced Soundscape Programming"), mixing, production
• John Sankey – drum programming (8)
• Mark Ferris – additional string arrangements (10)

References

1. "Mechanize by Fear Factory". Retrieved May 1, 2019 – via www.metacritic.com.
2. Henderson, Alex. "Review: Mechanize". Allmusic. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
3. Ogle, Ryan. "Review: Mechanize". Blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on February 28, 2010. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 15, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. "Fear Factory Reforms With Dino Cazares, Burton C. Bell, Gene Hoglan". blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on May 1, 2009.
6. "Blog Archive » Fear Factory Interview Part 2!". Metal Hammer. April 27, 2008. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
7. "Fear Factory Members Embroiled In 'Legal Battle' Over Band's Name". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Archived from the original on June 19, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
8. "Fear Factory: 'Mechanize' Artwork Unveiled". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2010. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
9. Fear Factory Fear Campaign video. Metal Injection. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
10. "Bravewords.com > News > Fear Factory - Set This World On Fire".
11. Hung, Steffen (February 28, 2010). "Fear Factory - Mechanize". australian-charts.com. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
12. ":: MTV | Album Top 50 KW 7 | charts". Mtv.de. January 7, 2011. Archived from the original on February 28, 2010. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
13. Steffen Hung. "Fear Factory - Mechanize". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
14. Steffen Hung. "Fear Factory - Mechanize". austriancharts.at. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
15. Steffen Hung (February 12, 2010). "Fear Factory - Mechanize". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
16. Steffen Hung (February 21, 2010). "Fear Factory - Mechanize". hitparade.ch. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
17. "Fear Factory: First U.S. Tour Dates Announced". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Archived from the original on March 30, 2010. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
18. Steffen Hung (February 13, 2010). "Fear Factory - Mechanize". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
19. Steffen Hung (February 20, 2010). "Fear Factory - Mechanize". lescharts.com. Retrieved February 20, 2011.