Review by Adam M on April 16, 2025.

Fear Factory – Obsolete 

This is the album where Fear Factory tighented their style and become a more mainstream act.  There is a very catchy vibe to the proceedings and it makes the music very memorable.  The industrialized nature of the songs makes them very vibrant and colourful.  The band is able to change their style into something more accessible and still be incredibly interesting at the same time.

The music on this album displays a crisp and clear time type of resonance that makes it appealing.  Guitars are cinematic sounding and display poignancy.  Drums are pounding and form the backbone for the album nicely.  Also, the vocals of Burton C. Bell are very prominent and make for a powerful listen.  All in all, this album has a sort of futuristic sound that is one of a kind and very vibrant.  In terms of the futuristic sound that is one of a kind and very vibrant.  In terms musicianship, the band is simplistic, yet powerful sounding.

The flaw to the album lies in its simplistic and easy to get into style.  It is a very mainstream, but has and underground style to it as well making it the perfectly well-rounded album.  This is an album that I would recommend for just about anyone as it has a very large potential and in the end Fear Factory would go on to craft several good album, but none as good as this one.

Rating: 7.5/10

Review by Adam on April 24, 2001.

Fear Factory is a band that is constantly evolving and adding new elements to their electronic brand of metal. Gone are days of thrashing riffs and crazed blast beats, but the band now embraces a more distorted, layered sort of approached first brought out on their previous effort Demanufacture and now put into sharper focus the the band's latest effort Obsolete.

With that being said, lets move on to some of the new musical elements Fear Factory are implementing with this release.
The first track, Shock is nothing really new. This is just your standard Fear Factory double kick fest with the emphasis on clean vocals for the chorus which, like on their previous album, is basically the main way the clean vocals are used throughout the album, but probably more so with this release.

With Obsolete, the band goes for a more groove oriented sound as well, instead of the short and choppy sound from Demanufacture. Take for instance the song Edgecrusher. The band goes for a mid-paced sort of structure on this one and even adds in vocals that could be considered Rapping for the verses. Also, some of you hardcore fans might be turned off by the dj scratches on the song as well, but what does one expect from a band whose lead singer's favorite music is hip hop.

Anyways back to the record! The group basically offers us ten more tracks of their layered and electronic brand of metal. Some of the songs including Decent and Resurrection bring more to the table than just intensity and actually offers us "rock songs" with that notable Fear Factory charm. All in all this is a pretty good record. Raymond Herrera again shows off his amazing drumming techniques, Dino Cazeres again graces us with his no holds barred riffing, and Burton Bell again give us his signiture vocal approach. This also marks the first time bass player Christian played on a Fear Factory album, so he must be commended as well.

This band really has seemed to have found their own style now. Some fans may embrace it and some may turn away, but the fact is that this is good cd, and if you liked Demanufacture then you will probably like this just as much if not more.

Bottom Line: Not the brutal powerhouse they used to be, but they still know how to pack a severe punch onto their listener's face.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10