The artist: Fear Factory are undoubtedly a major industrial metal band. They've attained mainstream success in metal and although they've had ups and downs, Burton C. Bell does what he can to manage the changes in the line-up of the bands. After the downfall of the band over personal differences, Bell ended the band in 2002 but returned a year later with the bassist Christian Olde Wolbers taking over guitars making way for Byron Stroud on bass. This line-up only had two albums and then went on a hiatus but returned a few years later with the triumphant return of Dino Cazares. However, there was more hardship since Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera were replaced by Dino Cazares and Gene Hoglan respectively. Despite more personal issues, Bell has moved on with the band and put out a great comeback with Mechanize. Here's hoping for the machine to go on to release more great albums.
The album: Soul of a New Machine is Fear Factory's debut album released in 1992. The industrial metal elements were well present here but what made this album stand out to the others was the presence of death metal. Unfortunately, Bell wasn't a great death metal vocalist so the changes in Demanufacture were for the better. However, it isn't all about the vocals for heavy metal so you have to consider how well the instruments are executed here. The riffs from Dino Cazares were very rough and Raymond on drums were aggressive. Of course, they still continued the aggression for the other albums but Soul of a New Machine no doubt has a different feeling to the rest of Fear Factory's music.
The song: Leechmaster starts off with a chugging riff that is heard throughout most of the song. It may be repetitive but if it's such a great riff that's energizing, it's worth hearing it again and again. Credit has to be given to Dino Cazares for doing both the guitar and bass for this album and he deserves a mention for the awesome riff here. The chorus also shows another riff from Cazares as well as some relentless bass drumming from Raymond Herrera. This was one of Raymond's finest moments in the band and it's a shame there's been a hardship with him and Burton C. Bell. Unfortunately, the lyrics aren't so great. They feel very basic and at times it feels like Burton is just shouting out "Pain! Love! Pain!" for the sake of shouting. Overall, death metal vocals may have not been Burton's medium but the rest of the band easily makes up in this song for the great riffing and aggressive drumming.
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