posted on Jan, 25 2016 @ 09:09 PM
originally posted by: MagnaCarta2015
I think it might be the best stuff they've put out since demanufacture.
I don't know if I would go that far. It's certainly better than its predecessor, The Industrialist. And it's light years ahead of the 2 albums they
did without Dino but I think Mechanize is a lot better than Genexus. Maybe it's the snob in me, but I much prefer Fear Ffactory when they go into the
studio as a band and use a real drummer even though they're going to sample and replace all of the drums in huge end. Gene Hoglan on Mechanize was
every bit as good as, and perhaps even better than, Ray Herrera.
On The Industrialist they programmed all the drum parts to save money and the final product showed the shortcomings of that error. Genexus is
definitely better than its predecessor but the intermixed use of multiple drummers along with programmed drums just left a sour taste in my mouth. My
biggest complaint though is that while they're a great studio band, live... They just can't pull it off.
Dino is a machine but Burt is a whole different story. I was really embarrassed for them when I saw them in 95 and the ADAT machine with the backup
tracks went down mid set. You could instantly hear the difference between how they actually sounded vs. how they wanted you to think they sounded. The
theme of technology and man being intertwined isn't just used for thematic back drop of their albums, it's an essential part of their live show too,
to their detriment. Without the triggers, the drums sound like ass, the guitars weren't a lot better and the vocals were horrendous.
I worked for them once in 94 when they toured with Sepultura, Fudge Tunnel and Clutch and even back then, while still touring on Soul of a New
Machine, it was like that just to a lesser extent. Don't get me wrong... They put on a great show and were great to deal with and cool as hell to the
fans and Soul of a New Machine and Demanufacture are 2 of my favorite albums of all time. It just bums me out that a band I looked up to 20 years ago
relies to much on the technological aspects of recording and fail to properly translate that to a live setting.
But like I said, it's probably just the snob in me. I still record to analogue tape and go out of my way to make sure everything we are writing is
able to be played live before I go near the studio whereas FF take a different approach and write a batch of really good songs and then after they're
done recording they figure out which ones they can play live. Apples and Oranges I guess. Dino and Burt need to get off their high horses and get at
least Ray involved again because I think that's the missing ingredient... A drummer who's is integral to and a part of the songwriting process. It's
what Genexus and The Industrialist are lacking in my opinion.