REVIEW FOR "JANUARY 22, 2004"

FEAR FACTORY
HATEFILES
ROADRUNNER, 2003
 
I'm writing this on February 8, so don't bitch about how fucking late I am.  For chrissake, I work harder at this than you.  Anyway, I felt I needed something easy and fun to review so I chose this.  I love to review albums I can bitch about.
 
To begin with, the first four songs are mechanical as all get out.  There's nothing but sterility in these songs, techno-metal chuggery without the rage that made the band what it was pre-Obsolete.  Fear Factory seems a bit heavier here than what I heard on Digimortal (and I've only heard "What Will Become," 'cause I admittedly am not a fan of the post-Obsolete output).  It sounds like Fear Factory is cannibalising its own earlier songs without the death metal trappings or anger that the band used to be known for.  The band's essentially going through the motions and the liner notes to Hatefiles pretty much admit as much (the new songs were all recorded for video games, fer chrissake.)  At this point, does Fear Factory really need the money?  They've been co-opted by the "new metal" movement, are pretty much respected by many mainstream media outlets and have been credited with being an important band of the 1990's.  I guess it doesn't matter, as the new songs are barely good enough for an EP.  Still doesn't prevent Roadrunner from milking their most lucrative cash cow dry, though.
 
Most of the rest of Hatefiles is made up of remixes and alternate takes of songs from Fear Factory's Demanufacture, Obsolete and Digimortal albums.  To be quite honest, the songs are pretty damn pointless.  What is the point of releasing songs that sound way too similar (but not quite exactly, mind you) to the singles and/or album tracks they eventually became?  Am I supposed to be impressed by the alternate take of "Cars" where Gary Numan sings the whole way through?  Is there that much of a difference between Tom Lord-Alge's version of "Resurrection" and the version on Obsolete aside from the crappy 80's-sounding theme music (oh, I'm sorry, "synths") in the background?  Are the gabber remixes of "New Breed" supposed to not suck?  I'm sorry, but I'm just not impressed.  This feels like a cash grab by Roadrunner and I wouldn't be suprised if it was.
 
Stupidly, I thought this was Fear Factory's last album.  Turns out the band reformed back in October 2002 and I only found out about the reformation now.  I'm up on my news, aren't I?  Hey, best of luck to the band.  I hope Archetype bombs.
 
FEAR FACTORY
http://www.fearfactory.com/
 
ROADRUNNER RECORDS
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/