Album di debutto per i Fear Factory, band capace di rivoluzionare e di molto gli stilemi del metal estremo, autrice di uno degli album più importanti del genere, il seguente "Demanufacture". La band comprendeva Burton C. Bell alla voce, Dino Cazares alla chitarra, Andrew Shives al basso e Raymond Herrera alla batteria. Il grande pregio di ogni membro dei Fear Factory è quello di saper personalizzare al massimo la propria prestazione: Burton Bell ad esempio ha una voce che in questo primo album spazia da un growl cattivissimo ad una voce pulita molto particolare, quasi da androide capace di provare emozioni! I riff di Cazares sono un altro dei marchi di fabbrica dei Fear Factory, oramai imitatissimi. Assenza di assoli, ritmiche quasi militaresche, da "mondo dominato dalle macchine" che è poi la visione che in ogni album dove più e dove meno, propone il gruppo. Per non parlare della vera macchina umana del gruppo, parlo del batterista, il robot Herrera, di cui ho potuto godere della sua prestazione anche dal vivo (eh). Non ho mai sentito un batterista che usa in modo così pulito e chirurgico il doppio pedale, quasi come se fosse una seconda batteria!
Quest'album si discosta dai successivi, il suono non è ancora focalizzato al massimo ed un po' grezzo, ma il brutal death o meglio ancora post-death con qualche elemento industrial che ci propongono i Fear Factory in quest'album, ha già una sua personalità ben spiccata e la voce robotica di Bell è già ben presente in quest'album! Dall'iniziale "Martyr",che mi fece sobbalzare dalla sedia la prima volta che l'ascoltai, a causa del growl ferocissimo del cantante, io che ero abituato alle produzioni recenti del gruppo. Degne di nota sono anche la seguente "Leechmaster", "Scapegoat", un loro classico in cui già si intravedono alcuni elementi futuri del gruppo (tecnologizzazione del suono, voce robotica di Bell, ritornello da androide mezzo-umano), anche se è ancora evidente la matrice brutal death, che però rende il lavoro molto godibile, forse eccessivamente lungo e dispersivo (sono ben 17 i brani), ma teniamo conto che siamo di fronte ad un debutto e per lo più molto personale ed interessante.
Il verbo tecnologico mischiato alla brutalità, continua nelle seguenti canzoni come ben dimostra "Life Blind" che come suono è tra le più vicine a "Demanufacture". Da segnalare il rumorismo e il noise completo di "Natividad" e l'intro provocatoria e accusatoria nei confronti della società americana (a dimostrare che anche nelle tematiche i Fear Factory si distanziavano da molti gruppi estremi) in "Big God", dove Bell declama:
"In America today, every 25 fucking seconds someone is viciously raped, someone is brutally violated; 250 times a day someone is murdered, someone's life is taken, In America; This is America, This is America, and I love America, I love America!"
Il meglio doveva ancora venire, ma quest'album conserva ancora tutto intatto il fascino che solo un debut-album e una band giovane e incazzata può avere, quell'atmosfera da mondo suburbano alla Orwell!
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Martyr (04:05)
what i thought was life
came to an end
born into a world
i never asked for this
ive got to get away (x4)
born into hardship
a world of destruction
suffer, bastard (x2)
ive got to get away (x4)
take me to heaven
adorn me with wings
suffer, bastard
ive got to get away (x4)
suffer, bastard...
(repeat 1st verse, 2nd verse)
ive got to get away (x4)
02 Leechmaster (03:54)
What you feel
Are your needs
All you want
Is to be loved
Pain!...Love!...Pain!
But can you give
Someone else
The same love
That you want
Pain!...Love!...Pain!
Pain!...Love!...Pain!
Come and take my pain
And soon you will see
That I will taste your pain
Then both of us can bleed
I loved you once
Now go away
I loved you once
Please stay away
Your emotions
Are out of control
A battered soul
Your love means shit
Pain!...Love!...Pain!
Pain!...Love!...Pain!
Come and take my pain
And soon you will see
That I will taste your pain
Then both of us can bleed
I loved you once
Now go away
I loved you once
Please stay away [X2]
03 Scapegoat (04:33)
Judges have decimated
Meanings of our laws
Already guilt?
Something has a flow
Wrongly accused
Blindly confused
Open your eyes
Try to realize
[Chorus:]
Don't you know
You can't see
Too damn blind
To judge me!
Wrongly accused
Blindly confused
Open your eyes
Try to realize
[Chorus]
Laws are meant to follow
But they've mislead you
Conceal their meanings
So they can suit you
Misjudged by the system
No one ever knows
No one
No one knows
No one
No one
No one knows...
Judges have decimated
Meanings of our laws
Already guilt?
Something has a flow
Wrongly accused
Blindly confused
Open your eyes
Wake up, realize!
[Chorus, repeat 3rd verse]
Scapegoat
Scapegoat
Scapegoat
Scape - Goat
Scape - Goat
04 Crisis (03:45)
You that I despise
Repentance of sorts
Death comes naturally
Not from a hated war
Repentance
Repentance of faith
Repentance of hope
Repentance of hate
Not my war
Soldiers marching on
Not my war
Soldiers marching on
On your feet!
Crisis at hand
On your feet soldier!
Crisis at hand
On your feet soldier!
On your feet motherfucker!
Crisis! Crisis! Crisis!
05 Crash Test (03:46)
Some men believe
Animals aren't seen
Testing on their minds
Testing with their lives
You can't believe
Not even percieve
Animals that die
Animals that cry
Chorus:
Crash test! So what!
Crash test! So what!
Catastrophies
To the animal species
Politically correct
On animals, to dissect?
What does it mean
When animals can dream?
Destroying a pure life
Only for a price
Repeat Chorus
Animals that die
Animals that cry
Testing on their minds
Testing with their lives (X2)
Crash! Test!
Animals that die
Animals that cry
Testing on their minds
Testing with their lives
Repeat 1st verse, Chorus
Crash!
06 Flesh Hold (02:31)
Breaking out
this stifled room
A jail cell, a steel tomb
To see the light
My mere existence
God's kill in sight
Confined in madness
Jurors hate criminal minds
They're making dates for killing time
Breaking out this stifled room
A jail cell, a steel tomb
One has to fight
For dissension
God's kill in sight
Confined in madness
Wasted life, tasted
Wasted life, tasted [X2]
Kill me!
Kill me!
Kill me!
Kill me!
So let me die
So let me die
Wasted life, tasted
Wasted life, tasted
One has to fight
For dissension
God's kill in sight
Confined in madness
Jurors hate criminal minds
They're making dates for killing time
08 Scumgrief (04:07)
Cry, cry, cry, cry
Wires around your arms
Like wires around your head
A crucifix of me
Above your bed
I've seen your wounds
That you can't hide
You bleed well
When I cry
[Chorus:]
Cry, cry, cry
Scumgrief, Scumgrief
Scumgrief, Scumgrief
Smell the rats of deviance
Coursing through your veins
Rotting faith in your self
Confined alone to decay
I've seen your wounds
That you can't hide
You bleed well
With the rat inside [X2]
[Repeat Chorus]
10 Big God / Raped Souls (02:38)
In America today, every 25 fucking seconds
someone is viciously raped, someone is brutally violated;
250 times a day, someone is murdered,
someone's life is taken,
In America; This is America, This is America,
and I love America,
I love America!
No remorse for the pain
Look into the eyes of death
Strong man cannot endure
Big god of this earth
Liar!
Big god, no god!
Take back this life
Give back this world
"Woe to you
of earth and sea"
Big god will always be
Liar!
Big god, no god!
Burn! Raped Souls:
God raped souls
Of our lives
Hammers crush all our lives
Just like clockwork
They'll crush our lives
11 Arise Above Oppression (01:51)
Rise above, rise above
Steal away to hide your shame
Rise above, rise above!
Rise above your oppression
Above the one that hates you
Above the one that lies
Above the pain that hates
Death! Fear! Rage!
Rise above your depression
Above the one that kills
Above the one that hates
Above all of the pain
Fear! Death! Rage!
Rise above, rise above
Rise above
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise above your oppression
Above the pain and suffering
Above the one that hates you
And kills you
Through all of your life
13 Suffer Age (03:40)
Compressed youthful voices
Suffer age
Below John's floors
Spoilage
Lingering death
Gagging your fears
Dead in horror
Grizzly facial stare
Unbelievable atrocity
Hateful monstrosity
Draining scientific minds
Pathological deeds
Creator
Executionor
Heresy
God's vision destroyed
Sinister joker
Childhood dreams
Laughing corruption
Compressed youthful voices
Suffer age
Below John's floors
Spoilage
14 W.O.E. (02:33)
Caught beneath visions of hatred
Drowning fast in sounds of silence
Caught between divisions of hate
Can't breathe under this weight of existence
[Chorus:]
Too strong,
Too strong for you
Too strong,
Too strong for you
[Repeat 1st verse, Chorus]
Drowning
Drowning
Drowning
Drowning [X2]
[Repeat 1st verse, Chorus]
15 Desecrate (02:35)
Desecrate the vows within
Sanctify all your fears
Desecrate the holy church
Desecrate
Fill the abyss
With you hatred
Slaughter my child
Before your eyes
Fill the abyss
With you hatred
Slaughter my child
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Drink his blood like wine
Taste his body like bread
He's not my god
He's - Not - My - God
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Drink his blood like wine
Taste his body like bread
He's not my god
He's - Not - My - God
Not my god!
Desecrate!
Not my god!
Desecrate!
16 Escape Confusion (03:58)
From morality
A morbid animosity
Addicted to the epidemic
That deteriorates progression
Escape confusion
Escape animosity
Desperately washing away
The gore that's hidden beneath the dismay
Thoughts of eternal despair
And self hate
Escape confusion
Escape animosity
Terrorism within
Dreams become reality
Visions of hope
Attempt to escape
Attempt to escape
Attempt to escape the sickness!
Terror
Dreams become reality
Visions of hope
Attempt to escape
Attempt to escape
Attempt to escape the sickness!
Repeat 1st verse
17 Manipulation (03:29)
Your conniving words
Are childishly insane
To get what you want
You'll say anything
In your mind
You lust to control me
You lust
For control
[Chorus:]
Mold me, fold me
Mold me, fold me
My pain is your pleasure
My agony excites you
Desperate for a change
But change comes within
I'm not staying
Not around you
I'm stronger than you think
Much stronger than you
[Repeat Chorus]
Molding and folding
Lusting for control [X3]
Longing to control
Those without esteem
Ignorant pawns
Of your pathetic dreams
Dying to control
Those without esteem
Ignorant pawns
Of your pathetic dreams
Molding and folding
Lusting for control
Hatred is a tool
Thoughtlessly you use
Ruin an only friend
With misleading rules
Contain your own rage
Give yourself praise
'Cause you have no shame
With your callous game
[Repeat Chorus]
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Altre recensioni
Di hypnosphere boy
Fear Factory riescono con questo capolavoro a realizzare a partire dalla forma Death-Metal, quello che i Ministry con il citato album hanno realizzato partendo da una matrice industriale ed elettronica.
La messa in scena del 'crash ballardiano' uomo-macchina è in realtà il pretesto per introdurre l'idea portante dell'album, cioè l'incontro con un mondo sempre più meccanizzato e alienante.
