Fear Factory: Live Review

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Interviews:

By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal

July 7th 2010, House Of Blues, Hollywood CA: Ever since I saw Fear Factory perform at the California Metalfest back in May this year, I was looking forward to see the band again because even though they performed for a decent length of time at that show, they left me asking for more. Their performance that night can be aptly described as powerful, and their intensity was great. One crucial thing that was missing at that show though, was their fan base. That particular night was a festival gig with a whole variety of bands most of whom being the hardcore/deathcore (and whatever else core that exists on Wikpedia) kind. This time, it was their headlining run across North America, tonight being the kick-off. I was anticipating a killer performance.

But before that, I had five interviews lined up and for the first time ever I covered every band on the touring line-up. It was hectic but I enjoyed it a lot. The guys from Baptized In Blood, After The Burial, Divine Heresy, 36 Crazyfists and Fear Factory were all very nice and easily accessible. I found it pretty funny that I had to do the two interviews with Dino Cazares (one each for Fear Factory and Divine Heresy) in the bathroom attached to the dressing room, the reason being it was too crowded. I just about got done with my last interview when it was half an hour past the time doors opened.

I didn't even know that a local band Yeti was on the bill as the opening band for tonight. I don't think anyone knew that they were playing. As a result, I had to miss their set as a couple of my interviews were scheduled around that time. If I had known they were playing, I would have had a different schedule. I just wanted to clarify this so people don't turn around and say that I don't care for the smaller and local bands.

I got myself a very good spot on the rail when I entered just as Baptized In Blood were starting their set. I was quite impressed with their performance. The music was solid, the energy was good and the crowd response wasn't bad at all, taking into account the usual reaction the Hollywood folks give to opening bands they've never heard of. It's just so typical. An opening band has to be described as subpar and they must suck. Not the case with this band, that's for sure. The song that really stood out for me was 'Down And Out', which was the last in their 20-minute set.

The next band to hit the stage was Divine Heresy, featuring renowned monster musicians like Dino Cazares on guitar, Joe Payne on bass and Tim 'The Missile' Yeung on drums, a lethal combination in every sense of the word. Their incredibly short set was nothing less than lethal either, giving us music that had traces of Fear Factory in it, but more technical and at times more brutal. I wish they were higher up on the bill, but as Dino was pulling double duty with Fear Factory, I could totally understand why he would want to keep a certain gap between the two sets.

After The Burial were next up. I quite enjoyed the progressive elements in their music and it was even better live than it what it sounded like on the studio versions. The vocalist Anthony was the driving force of their stage show, as he should be. We'd been treated to some very energetic frontmen so far, this being no exception. Their music is the kind that fit this bill pretty well, but could easily fit a "scene-oriented" tour as well. Hence their upcoming tour supporting Bleeding Through this fall. And although the bassist Lee told me during our interview that their show would be the same, I would be curious to see how different the crowd response is, come September 3rd.

36 Crazyfists, from Alaska of all places, were the final support band of the night. They got a decent length of performance time, and I thought they made pretty good use of it as the people in the middle of the GA floor started mosh pits, with some of them deciding to crowd surf as well. That is always a good sign that shows the crowd is enjoying the band on stage. Vocalist Brock Lindow was full of energy and moved around a lot. Performance wise, they did all did a solid job. During our interview, Brock was talking to me about the fact that they've been a band for more than 15 years and that they need to put their name up on the top of the marquee, not just as support act. I'd be interested to see how they handle that, whenever they decide to do that headlining tour.

The intro blasts of 'Mechanize' hit our eagerly awaiting ears as Fear Factory finally took the stage. When it comes to opening songs, I can think of very few songs by other bands that are as hard-hitting as this one. The band had definitely come out on stage in top gear and at full throttle. Gene Hoglan was relentlessly pounding down on those drums at the rate of knots. Byron was effortlessly solid on his bass. We had already seen what Dino was capable of earlier in the night and he was here to replicate it. Unlike what I keep hearing from some of the fans, Burton C Bell was fiery on vocals for the most part.

They followed Mechanize by going a good few years down memory lane, with the songs 'Shock' and 'Edgecrusher' from the Obsolete album. From among the next few songs, and indeed the whole of their set, Powershifter was certainly the highlight for me. That song has 'metal' written all over it and if you've heard the song, you know what I'm talking about. The lyrics were the most fun to sing along to, specially the chorus. It is very simple actually, but what makes it stand out for me is that you tend to get louder every time you scream the word 'Powershift', something I enjoy very much. Besides that, there's just something about this song that makes you go literally apeshit. At one point during the song, my friend started punching me in my head, all in good fun though.

Then came the song with the guitar solo, 'Fear Campaign'. A Fear Factory song with a guitar solo was almost unthinkable before the Mechanize album released so it was more than a pleasant surprise for a few people. Having said that, this song shouldn't get attention just because of that solo. Overall, it's a very solid piece of music. 'Martyr' was up next after which we got treated to as many as five killer songs from the Demanufacture album, starting with the title song. The others were 'Self-Biased Resistor', 'Zero Signal', 'Hunter Killer' and the closing song for the night, 'Replica'. Being from the same album as they were, these songs flowed excellently well into each other and almost gave the show a 'live album' feel towards the end.

At some point when he addressed the crowd, Burton urged us to shout 'BP must pay' and everyone obliged. I wish they could have played a longer set, and that would be my only complaint from the show tonight, the fact that they had so many bands on the bill, shortening everyone's set. All the bands that got 20-minute sets had the potential to deliver better performances that people would actually remember for more than a few days after the show, had they played longer. But anyway, let's say that it was a taste of what those bands were capable of and as for Fear Factory, they proved yet again why the reincarnated version of the band is such a powerful live act. As I said in the beginning of this review, I was anticipating a killer performance, and that's exactly what it was. Yes, my Fear Factory live experience for this year is now complete. This is one show the fans would have 'felt' in their bodies for a few days after, specially those on the rail. A rip-roaring, skull-crushing band at its best.

Mechanize
Shock
Edgecrusher
Smasher/Devourer
Acres of Skin
Linchpin
Powershifter
Fear Campaign
Martyr
Demanufacture
Self Bias Resistor
Zero Signal
H-K (Hunter-Killer)
Replica

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