Additional Reviews
- Archetype (Australian Tour Edition) -
- Archetype Sampler -
- Demanufacture (Digipack Version) -
- Fear Is The Mindkiller -
- Mechanize -
- Obsolete (Digipack) -
- Transgression Sampler -
Fear Factory: Soul Of A New Machine (2004 Reissue)
Death Metal, Industrial
Roadrunner Records
September 8th, 1992
  1. Martyr - 4:05
  2. Leechmaster - 3:54
  3. Scapegoat - 4:33
  4. Crisis - 3:46
  5. Crash Test - 3:46
  6. Flesh Hold - 2:32
  7. Lifeblind - 3:52
  8. Scumgrief - 4:07
  9. Natividad - 1:04
  10. Big God/Raped Souls - 2:39
  11. Arise Above Oppression - 1:51
  12. Self Immolation - 2:47
  13. Suffer Age - 3:40
  14. W.O.E. - 2:33
  15. Desecrate - 2:35
  16. Escape Confusion - 3:59
  17. Manipulation - 3:30
Originally posted on July 14th, 2009
Review
Fear Factory's first major label death metal album, Soul Of A New Machine, has been remastered and reissued. It feels good to pop this disc in the player and relive the good old days of this band, especially remembering the albums Obsolete and Digimortal. But, does this remastered version cause any issues?

Not a damn one. All the original tracks are in this release, as well as the entire Fear Is The Mindkiller EP for good measure. The remstered version definitely helps the album out as far as clarity goes, even though this release didn't really need to be remastered in the first place.

As far as the actual music on this release goes, it's simply spectacular. Of course it has the classic tracks "Martyr" (a personal favorite), "Scapegoat", and "Big God/Raped Souls" just to name a few. The band flawlessly blended a death metal sound with an industrial sound (one that would give an impression of Ministry when they feel like being heavy). We also cannot forget about Burton C. Bell's influence on almost all metal-related scenes with his dual vocal range of rough, somewhat gutteral, and clean singing.

Many of the songs on this album may sound complicated, but it's the simplistic ones, such as "Lifeblind" that really kick you in the ass and make you want to go ahead and punch the nearest living thing. The guitars are insanely heavy, and the drums can go from mid paced to blistered in zero seconds flat.

If you missed this album, just go buy it now, remastered or not. At the time, it was such a different album that impacted the metal world, and today it still impacts those who experience it. There isn't anything negative to say about it, aside the fact that some of the songs, like "Crisis", have sampled bits from movies (which mostly came from the films Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, and Full Metal Jacket) and can have a lot of profane words, or just a few throughout the song. So be careful, don't let mommy hear it, just show her the lyric booklet...