Customer Reviews

The Best of Fear Factory

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Fear Factory is one of the handfull of bands (along with Type O Negative and Sepultura among others) responsible for Roadrunner Records gaining notoriety before bands like Slipknot blew the label up even more so. Now with most of those bands not even with Roadrunner anymore, there have been a slew of "best of" compilations released by the label in an attempt to cash in even more so. As you've probably guessed, this "Best of Fear Factory" compilation hardly covers the best material the band ever released. Not to mention that their best album, "Soul of a New Machine" is hardly covered here at all, as well as the excellent "Demanufacture", which isn't done justice at all, while their more well known material, including the deliriously cheesy cover of "Cars" from "Obsolete" and fan favorite "Zero Signal", are here as well. That being said, if you already own every one of Fear Factory's releases, then you already know that this compilation is pretty much worthless. However, this is worth a look if you are a new listener to the band and want to give them a look. However, if you want to go down that route, the better thing to do would be to check out "Soul of a New Machine" and "Concrete".

If you liked their older style from albums like Soul of a New Machine, the first three tracks would be for you. If you liked their Demanufacture / Remanufacture years, tracks 4-7 would be for you, and if you liked their newer style from Obsolete and Digimortal, tracks 8-10 and 12 would be for you. (Track 11 is their cover of Gary Newman's 'Cars'.)
Really though if you already know which iteration of Fear Factory you like most, this CD would be a wasted purchase.

Here's the key again in shorter form:
[If you like] : [Buy this album]
Tracks 1-3: Soul of a New Machine
Tracks 4-7: Demanufacture, Remanufacture
Tracks 8-10, 12: Obsolete, Digimortal
Track 11: 'Cars' single

This "Best of" is really only appropriate for folks who have never heard Fear Factory before and want to get a sampling of their musical styles. (Back in the day we would do this by borrowing our friends' cassettes or CDs, and today folks use mp3s.) Once you've determined which tracks you like most, buy or preview the albums I listed above in the 'key' corresponding to the Fear Factory style(s) that appeals to you most.

For any Fear Factory fan, this CD is pointless aside from being a collection completer (for those who just have to own every album). I think most of us have put together our own "greatest hits" mixes with the FF tracks we like most from their catalogue.

This album doesn't really do a very thorough job either, in that it leaves out plenty of great tracks and comes in a little light with only 12 tracks when generally 'Best Of' or 'Greatest Hits' albums are supposed to be a bit longer than your average album to ensure most of the Best or Greatest tracks actually make it on there. They could have easily added about four more tracks to round it out a bit more.

This is the most half-*ssed way that Roadrunner could rake in a few more dollars. Like with quite a lot of other bands that have previously been on the label's roster, Roadrunner Records just picks a few of Fear Factory's most well-known tracks and makes a CD out of these. How pathetic. I can already do that with a blank CD-R and those tracks I ripped to my computer years ago. Okay, I give this an extra star for picking out some great tracks, but the CD lacks heavily of what Fear Factory's Roadrunner career was. There is only one track off "Digimortal", three tracks off their first three albums, and the Gary Numan cover of "Cars". Come on. Seriously. You could have at least put some B-sides or rarities on there as well.

All I have to say is that if you want a GOOD retrospective to this legendary band, DON'T BUY THIS. Pitch in a few more bucks and buy their whole discography. It will benefit you (and Roadrunner) better if you just do that. Same thing with all the other bands that have best-of CD's out (Sepultura, Type O Negative, Deicide, etc.).

I like all the songs on this album. Unforgiveable that they left descent off. They could of easily added that as a 13th song on this compilation. What a rip-off!

While i like most of Fear Factory's music i think this is a really bad selection. I do like the songs on here but most greatest hits like some one else has said on here, this should have consisted more then just 12 songs. I think this is one of the shortest greatest hits that i've seen so far. Not to mention they left out alot of great songs. I think this cd only has use to newcomers to Fear Factory who hasnt heard a single song & they want to try them out. However if you want a collection this would be a good collection of FF.

CD 1:
(Concrete 1990):
01. Concrete
02. Sangre De Ninos
03. Soulwomb
04. Deception
05. Piss Christ

(Soul Of A New Machine 1992):
06. Martyr
07. Leechmaster
08. Scapegoat
09. Crisis
10.Big God/Raped Souls
11. Self Immolation
12. Suffer Age
13. Escape Confusion
14. Manipulation

(Demanufacture 1995):
15. Demanufacture
16. Self Bias Resistor
17. Zero Signal
18. Replica
19. Body Hammer
20. H - K (Hunter-Killer)
21. Pisschrist

CD 2:
(Obsolete 1998):
01. Shock
02. Edgecrusher
03. Decent
04. Freedom Or Fire
05. Obsolete
06. Timelessness
(Obsolete Digipack)
07. 0-0 {Where Evil Dwells}
08. Soulwound
09. Messiah
10. Concreto

(Archetype 2004):
11. Slave Labor
12. Cyberwaste
13. Act Of God
14. Archetype
15. Corporate Cloning
16. Default Judgement
17. Bonescraper
18. Human Shield

(Transgression 2005):
19. 540,000 Fahrenheit
20. Transgression
21. Spinal Compression
22. Contagion
23. Moment Of Impact

That only spans about 2 cds but thats without the album Digimortal. I dont really remember that many songs off of that album since that is my least fav album by FF. But this right here is a greatest hits collection!

I am very happy with this greatest hits compilation. Fear Factory focused on their strengths and did not burden the album with material that fell outside of their strongest albums. This is Bell and Cazares performing at their peaks. No power balads here. This is serious metal the whole way through. I like how the album also goes chronologically through their four most popular albums. The album starts with three songs from 1992's Soul of a New Machine. Then come the first four songs, in the original order, from 1995's Demanufacture. Then come four songs from 1999's Obsolete. A personal favorite here is Cars where Fear Factory team up with Gary Numan to do a great cover of Numan's big hit. This is almost a completely ninties retrospective of the group, but the last song on the album is from 2001's digimortal.

I am really enjoying this album, since the band has kept the songs flowing just like they did in the original albums. The sound keeps pace, and you don't have those annoying ups and downs like you tend to get from other greatest hits albums where they mix up all the songs without thinking about the production. I highly recommend the album, unless you happen to have the four individual albums already, but then the greatest hits is still good to have handy for a nice loud hour in the car.