Remastery over Originality
Fear Factory have been around a long, long time, born in 1990 and releasing "Soul of a new machine" in 1992, and from the re-released album here I can tell why they're still around today - it's something that hadn't been done before. There's something here which is suprisingly tasty - everything sounds very technical and as a result unique. The re-released "Soul of A New Machine" is fine music which still sounds nice twelve years later.
However, it would seem that something went horifically wrong over those last twelve years and, unfortunately, "Fear is the Mindkiller" may just turn out to be the bandkiller. Unless these guys have drowned their talent in alcohol, they aren't trying hard enough or they aren't utilizing all of their potential. It could be that in trying to search for a new direction, the band have lost touch with what made them excellent, or it could just be a bad egg. Either way, let's hope they can revisit the days of old before too long.