Episode 177 - Demanufacture by Fear Factory (Side A‪)‬ Unsung Podcast

A mainstay of 90s and early 00s metal, Fear Factory are a band whose influence has been felt keenly on both nu metal and industrial metal alike. Their second album, Demanufacture is, Weaver argues, a hugely important record on metal music in general, so this week we take a tour of the band’s history and more. Despite having been a band for over 30 years at this point, Fear Factory have only released ten albums. In fact, their latest one came out only a week ago (at the time of writing). We didn’t plan that - truthfully, Dave was completely unaware that they had a new record coming until he decided we were doing this album - but it’s turned out quite well for us. 30 odd years is a long time for a band to exist, which is probably why they’ve long portions of that time either not being Fear Factory, or being at each other’s throats. Indeed, whilst the latest release features co-founder Burton C. Bell, he’s no longer actually in the band. It might feel like a strange thing to mention, but the interpersonal relationships between band members but it’s actually one of the defining features of this band. It’s something we talk about at length in this episode. We also discuss cyber metal, industrial metal and Mark also gives his thoughts on why he more closely associates the band with groove metal, despite (and including) the industrial elements. We also talk about their first four albums, and indeed mention the thematic trilogy that links Demanufacture, Obsolote and Digimortal. All in all, it’s a jam packed episode. We hope you enjoy. Vote next week!