Fear Factory - Digimortal

Fear Factory's fourth album, Digimortal, finds the hirsute Los Angeles industrial-metal band happening on a theme that they've been alluding to throughout their existence. Digimortal is a concept album about the synthesis of man and machine, its 11 tracks serving up a mish-mash of screaming electronics and punishing low-end death-metal dynamics. Guitarist Dino Cazares and drummer Raymond Herrera served tenure in the none-more-metal terrorist troupe Brujeria shortly before the release of Digimortal, but straight-ahead metal antics have not dulled Fear Factory's silicon edge; the scattershot riffage of "Damaged" is undercut by furious, distorted synth-lines, and the hyper-tense "No One" offers up sirens straight from the Chemical Brothers' box of old-school rave machinery. While there's nothing quite as startling as the title track from 1999's Obsolete (which featured vocals from synth pioneer Gary Numan), the beatbox-based "Back the F**k Up," featuring Cypress Hill's B-Real, stands head and shoulders above the ham-fisted rap-rock fusion peddled by many of Fear Factory's peers. --Louis Pattison Amazon.com

 Last album with Dino.
Fear factory are a band that constantly reinvent themselves. Digimortal and Transgression are prime examples of this. Both albums are disliked the most out of their discography yet Digimortal and the like contain the most diversity of all FF releases. If you want another Demanufacture then check out Archetype. While recently warming up to tracks like 'Linchpin' I still have my old school favorite tracks; 'damaged' and 'Byte Block'. I saw these guys twice live in support of Obsolete and Digi. I love all FF. April 1, 2008

 An under-rated FF Gem
This CD gets slammed by FF fans for reasons i dont see so much. Break Down

ESSESTIAL FF Tracks : Digimortal, No One, Invisible Wounds (excellent mid tempo track, could have been a hit for them), Acres of Skin, BYTE BLOCKER (excellent), Hurt Conveyor

OK - Linchpin, Damaged, What Will Become?

Could Live Without - Memory Imprints...

AWFUL - Back The Fu*k Up

Biggest problem here is the use of keyboards in inappropriate places to make it sound accesible. It sounds forced. And the fact that it sounds too over-produced for a FF cd. Even though they all have a good sound, this is too canned for them. But the songs themselves rip.

I do think most of the fans see its greatness. Others see it as commercial, but they havent given it a fair listen. The good tracks are REALLY good. For me that is 6 of the 11 tracks, with only 2 tracks being bad. The others maybe a bit filler, but its an excellent CD in its own right.

Get the Digipak if you can for the great tracks 'Strain vs. Res.' and 'Repentence' + 2 more..
August 22, 2007

 very dissapointing
Fear Factory's first album "A Soul for a New Machine" was a brutal deathmetal album with touchs of industrial delight. "Demanufacture" added alot more of the synth and reminded me of a faster Godflesh. "Obsolete" slowed down but added a more industrial sound. All of these albums were great and followed well after eachother but "Digimortal" sounded like the whole band took the day off.Even the artwork was generic and mediocre.It sounded unfinished and not very layered like past releases.

It was a very generic album that seemed to follow in the trend of what everyone else was doing at that time which to me is not very experimental like others have said.

Burton's vocals almost had a rap like flow to them.His melody lines were predictable and monotone. His vocals on Invisable wounds almost reminded me of P.O.D. (eww).

Herrera was tight and did the best he could with what he was given. He was the hardest thing on this album.

You couldn't hear Christian's bass at all.

Dino's guitar work is tight but sounds tinty and repetitive.

Rhys(keyboardist and producer) lays down generic synthlines. Most of his work is very layered and complex but not in this case.

I say buy this album because this was a lot better than most other music that was put out at that time.
March 22, 2007

 i don't know why people trash this album
its pretty damn good, and its still fear factory, its not demanufacture or obsolete, but there are still enough good songs here to warrant a purchace, aside from "back the f**k up", that sucks...just skip it...and if you can, get the digipack version cause the bonus songs are even better than the ones on the album. June 9, 2005

 Best Metal Album Ever! Best Fear Factory Album Ever! PERFECT
This album sounds very modern! Everything have been improved... songwriting, overall sounds, drum playing, guitar sound & vocal line! You name it!

If this album is TOO NU(read: new) for you... then you must be an OLDSCHOOL METAL fan! The answer is: UPGRADE your ears!

Ignore below negative comments, you will like this album if you expect a great + high quality + futuristic + modern recording sound! Fear Factory Rules! Mnemic Rulez! Soilwork rules! Killswitch Engage Rules! In Flames Rulez!

Dino Cazares is still the best! Everyone at Fear Factory, trust me... asked Dino to re-unite and you can make an album better than Archetype! (by far)
March 15, 2005

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