Soul of a New Machine
| Soul of a New Machine | ||||
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| Studio album from Fear Factory | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Roadrunner Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
17th |
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running time |
55 min 13 s |
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Studio (s) |
Grand Master, Hollywood , California |
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Soul of a New Machine ( English for the soul of a new machine is) the official debut of the US metal band Fear Factory . It was released on Roadrunner Records in August 1992 . The actual debut Concrete was only released afterwards in 2002. In contrast to the successor Demanufacture , Soul of a New Machine still had clear Death Metal elements.
style
The album combines elements of Death Metal, Neo-Thrash / Groove Metal as well as individual borrowings from Grindcore , Industrial Metal and Alternative Metal . It was described with a mixture of Entombed and Prong , Carcass and Voivod . Death Metal-like growling alternates with clear vocal passages.
History of origin
After the band had not released the album Concrete, recorded with the then still unknown Ross Robinson , because they were dissatisfied with the terms of the contract, they joined Roadrunner Records on the recommendation of Max Cavalera of Sepultura . In May 1992, shortly after the 1992 Los Angeles riots , the album was recorded in Hollywood , with some songs from the first album being reused. At that time the band was still rehearsing in a garage. During the recordings in the Grand Master Studio, guitarist Dino Cazares played the bass lines, while bassist Andrew Shives, who is listed in the booklet, only worked live for the band. Cazares went to Fon Studios in Sheffield , England in June 1992 to mix with producer Colin Richardson and sound engineer Steve Harris .
Concept and texts
Although the album deals with different topics, the band subsequently stated that the album had a concept of the birth of the " fetus in the machine". This theme is also reflected in the cover designed by Satok Lrak. Regarding the text content, Dino Cazares said:
“Los Angeles is my background, and that's what we sing about. It's a different Los Angeles than that of the would-be rock stars. The gang wars and the police terror - for me the LAPD is just another gang - this is more or less our world ... There is no science fiction on our album , all the stories are true. "
So handle Scapegoat from an incident where Cazares saw himself unjustly imprisoned and convicted as “a Latino ”. In Leechmaster it is about the relationship with a woman (Leech means leeches ). Crash Test is a protest song against animal testing in the manufacture of airbags . Self Immolation is about drugs, Suffer Age is inspired by a mass murderer, the "killer clown" John Wayne Gacy . Crisis is about the Second Gulf War . Here are samples from the films Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket used. The instrumental Natividad is a sound sculpture by Cazares for his late mother, who bore this first name. He dedicated the album to her and his father, Joey. Arise Above Oppression is a "positive song" that deals with not letting all the negative get you down and liking your own country despite its big problems.
reception
In Rock Hard at that time , Frank Albrecht called Soul of a New Machine “the most unusual Death Metal album that has been released to this day.” The band differs greatly from other bands in the genre due to its mix of styles. Burton C. Bell's vocal variations are "fascinating". 8.5 out of ten points were awarded. On allmusic .com Jason Birchmeier calls the band “ahead of their time”, the band hardly fit into the different musical camps at the time and was at the same time an “ anomaly ” and “ ground zero ” of alternative metal. Three out of five stars were awarded.
Track list
- Martyr - 4:06
- Leechmaster - 3:54
- Scapegoat - 4:33
- Crisis - 3:45
- Crash Test - 3:46
- Flesh Hold - 2:31
- Lifeblind - 3:51
- Scumgrief - 4:07
- Natividad - 1:04
- Big God / Raped Souls - 2:38
- Arise Above Oppression - 1:51
- Self Immolation - 2:46
- Suffer Age - 3:40
- WOE - 2:33
- Desecrate - 2:35
- Escape Confusion - 3:58
- Manipulation - 3:29
All songs are by Dino Cazares. All texts are by Burton C. Bell, except Escape Confusion and Suffer Age by Dino Cazares, Arise Above Oppression were both co-authored.
Re-release The album was remastered in 2004 by Roadrunner Records and re-released as a double CD . In addition to the seventeen tracks of the original version, the new edition contained the following tracks on a second CD:
- Martyr (Suffer Bastard Mix)
- Self Immolation (Vein Tap Mix)
- Scapegoat (Pigfuck Mix)
- Scumgrief (Deep Dub Trauma Mix)
- Self Immolation (Liquid Sky Mix)
Total playing time: 29 min 55 s.
These were already included in the 1993 remix EP Fear Is the Mindkiller .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b www.allmusic.com: Review Soul of a New Machine by Jason Birchmeier
- ↑ a b c d Holger Stratmann: Mitten im Moloch , in: Rock Hard, No. 65, October 1992, pp. 14-15.
- ↑ www.laut.de: Band biography Fear Factory
- ↑ www.kindamuzik.net: Interview Fear Factory , accessed March 6, 2010
- ↑ www.rockhard.de: Review Soul of a New Machine by Frank Albrecht
- ↑ Allmusic: Soul of a New Machine (Bonus CD)
- ↑ Discogs: Fear Factory - Soul Of A New Machine (The Expanded Edition)
- ↑ Musicbrainz: Soul of a New Machine (disc 2: Fear Is the Mindkiller) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Soul of a New Machine at Allmusic (English)
- Soul of a New Machine at Discogs (English)
- Soul of a New Machine on MusicBrainz (English)