Fear Factory – Aggression Continuum (Nuclear Blast) [Paul Hutchings]
The album many feared would never arrive is finally here and my word, has Dino Cazares pulled out all the stops, not to mention all the riffs in a battering, pulsating 48 minutes which is as gripping as any movie I’ve seen for many years. It may be as well to gloss over the background to the first album by Fear Factory for six years. Suffice to say, the legal challenges and actions are now resolved with Cazares now 100% in control of the band and the Fear Factory name. The irony is that Aggression Continuum features arguably Burton C Bell’s finest vocal performance since Demanufacture. Full of the trademark snarling and roaring aggression mixed with soaring clean vocals, Bell’s contribution was recorded over three years ago by all accounts. It’s a real shame because in Aggression Continuum, Fear Factory have unleashed an album that is likely to figure in my top ten of 2021.
Mixed by Andy Sneap and produced by Damien Rainaud, the sound is crisp, the delivery perfect for the sonic soundscapes and dystopian nightmares that Fear Factory have been crafting for the past 30 years. The riffs are intense, the keyboards of Igor Khoroshev rich without overpowering and the drumming of Mike Heller (at least that is what is credited to on the band’s website) thunderous. Most importantly, Cazares has brought together another concept album that contains songs that work. The rage of Disruptor is as brutal as anything the band have unleashed in the past, Bell bellowing “Disruptor” as the pounding bass and guitar riffs kick in. Fuel Injected Suicide Machine is a battering ram, the futuristic industrial tone dominant, the tsunami of riffing a constant hammer drill to the head. There’s plenty of melody which lurks throughout the album, you just must listen for it.
Elsewhere, the pulsing drama of Manufactured Hope speeds along, the sci-fi feel of Cognitive Dissonance with its semi-electro style combined with a blistering tempo and the closing ferocity of End Of The Line all stack up as quality songs. After three decades and plenty of aggro, it’s unlikely Dino Cazares cares too much what the non-Fear Factory fan thinks about this record. He’s rightly proud of an album that must have been astonishingly painful to complete. The fact that he’s got there speaks volumes. Where Fear Factory go next will be interesting. Cazares has confirmed he wants to tour the album. Who will replace Bell could be key in the future of the band? But for now, just sit back, and enjoy. 9/10
Slave Steel – Dream Of Decadence EP (Self Released) [Paul Hutchings]
Combining old school death metal with a thrash ethos, this four track EP from London based Slave Steel is 19 minutes of ferocity, vicious riffs and driving rhythms. The band started in Rome in 2008 before relocating to London around 2015. Benefiting from a decent production as one would expect when mastered by Jens Bogren, the EP’s concept revolves around the loss of innocence: a nostalgic reflection of adulthood disillusion. Each track explores a different level of awareness in the process of experiencing and understanding the world.
The music is solid, the ebb and flow of
Shut bringing a change from the maximum heads down thrash of opener
Ogre Cage, a song that features a slightly uncomfortable video. Blessed is a slightly slower paced track but retains the harsh edge that is a characteristic of the band. Pil Nazzari’s rough, growling vocals are likely to be divisive, such is their gravelled edge, but they work well with the intensity of the music. Final track
Decadence is explosive, full of Machine Head style thrashing which evolves into a groove laden finale. With the promise of gigs as soon as possible, Slave Steel will be worth looking out for in the coming months. 7/10
Terra Odium - Ne Plus Ultra (Frontiers Records) [Matt Bladen]
It seems every month we feature a band that has Steve Di Giorgio cropping up as bass player. The man has more cameo/featuring appearances than Stan Lee! He contributes bass to this debut record from Norwegian progressive/technical metal band Terra Odium, formed by drummer Asgeir Mickelson and vocalist/lead guitarist Øyvind Hægeland both of whom are former members of established Norwegian metal act Spiral Architect. Ne Plus Ultra is their debut album and sees Bollie Fredriksen playing rhythm and lead guitar while Jon Phipps gives this record the swells of synths and orchestration. With the membership sorted on to the the music itself and it seems that Terra Odium are really trying to be Nevermore throughout the record.
Their progressive metal sound is much heavier than say Dream Theater bringing more thrash and death metal to the table, they've been compared to Cynic or Atheist and that's certainly where the bludgeoning, off-kilter heaviness of their instrumentals come from. I'd say that they have much more of the sound forged by Queensryche and Fates Warning. Vocally though there is a determined effort to try and be as close to the much missed Warrel Dane as they can with limited success it's only when the booming throat of Tristania's Kjetil Nordhus does it get close. If you're looking for a band that is at the darker, heavier end of progressive metal then you could do worse than picking up a copy of Ne Plus Ultra. 6/10
Ateyu - Baptize (Spinefarm Records) [Matt Bladen]
Atreyu's new album Baptize is 15 tracks long, I mean that's probably too many songs, especially when those songs are all much of a muchness. I'll be honest here and say that Atreyu have passed me by. I know they were around in that first wave of American metal and they straddled metalcore and nu metal. but further than that all I remember is seeing pictures of their headband wearing guitarist in old editions of Kerrang. It seems as if they have embraced the more electronic pop sound that is very popular right now, on this eighth album, there's lots of fuzz and big choruses, unfortunately there is little else to distinguish it from a lot of pop music, notice I said pop not metal, this is deliberate as it's pop that is the biggest influence. Despite featuring Matt Heafy, Travis Barker and Jacoby Shaddix they can't save this from being a one of the worst albums I've heard this year. Insipid and uninspired perhaps it's telling that their founding vocalist Alex Varkatzas left before the album was fully realised. 2/10
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