Band:Fear Factory Album:Transgression Record Company:Calvin Records Writer: David Andersen MP3: Moment of Impact Click Album Cover To Buy Now

15 YEARS OF FEAR TOUR / CATEGORY 5 TOUR 11-13-2005 Fear Factory Soilwork Strapping Young Lad Darkane

For me, the fun began early. At about 5:30 I rendezvoused with Fear Factory's tour manager who brought me backstage to do my interview. The band was eating dinner when I came in so I got to hang out while they were all eating pot roast. How cool is that? Talked about stuff anywhere from Ozzfest to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog! The vibe backstage was real fun so I was definitely excited to see them rip it up on stage.

Darkane opened the show, and did a decent job. Personally I have never gotten really excited about this band. They aren't bad, but they don't really have anything that puts them above the rest of the Gothenburg pack. I think they choke their riffs by playing everything too fast. There's nothing like a good slow riff now and then to really heavy it up. That and the vocals were a bit crummy; it sounded as if their singer may have been a little under the weather. Regardless of this they put on a good show, impressing the crowd with their guitar finesse and amazing drumming.

Next up was Strapping Young Lad. Now here's another band that have never been at the top of my list (man this review is starting off a bit on the negative side), although they do have some cool tunes. Despite barely ever listening to their albums, this is a band I wouldn't mind seeing live again and again. The band definitely brings the energy, and there is just nothing quite like seeing Devin Townsend (front man) live. His dreadlocked skullet and humorous banter is priceless. First thing when they got on stage, Devin noticed a fish tank at the back of the club and promptly announced, "Man, those fish are fucked!" Can't beat that! My only gripe about their set is the guitar was really muddy, making it really hard to follow some of the songs, even the ones that I knew.

And then there was Soilwork. If there is one thing they know how to do it is kick some ass. I saw more crowd movement even then later when Fear Factory took the stage. They concentrated mostly on material from their last three releases (Natural Born Chaos, Figure Number Five, and their most recent, Stabbing the Drama). I was hoping to hear more than one song from their "A Predator's Portrait" album, but oh well. They did pick the right songs though. They opened with the song Stabbing the Drama, which has to be one of the best songs to open a set ever! For those of you hoping that Devin Townsend would come out and reprise his parts on the song Black Star Deceiver, well that didn't happen. Would be awesome to see if they do that later in the tour. Needless to say though, Soilwork were on fire, and by the time Fear Factory hit the stage, the crowd was definitely tired from the onslaught.

Fear Factory, as always were unstoppable. This is my first time seeing Fear Factory headline, and their set list did not disappoint. Aside from the intro and outro section of their set, they played the set organized by albums, visiting every one of their records. They even pulled out some stuff they hadn't played since Dino was in the band. After opening with some stuff from albums Transgression and Archetype, they played select cuts from Demanufacture. Then they moved on to a little stuff from Soul of a New Machine, and then Obsolete, and then even a few from Digimortal.

The atmosphere was very unique; the intensity of the music subsided in between the songs where it all seemed very loose. At one point Burton was asking the crowd "Can you hear me now?" after his mic had come unplugged during Edgecrusher. He also asked for the crowd to call out songs they didn't want to hear, which was funny hearing people respond with "Cars!" and "Back the Fuck Up!". At one point I yelled out "Play Freebird!" just because I think it's funny, and much to my amusement, my call was echoed a few times. Of course Burton thought it was pretty funny as well and sang out a few lines from the chorus. I tell ya that just made my night!

They closed out strong, absolutely annihilating the crowd with new classics Cyberwaste and Archetype, and then closing with their signature song, Replica. Fans got a treat as Burton came back out after a couple minutes and went into the song Timelessness. Its combination of haunting vocals, and ambient electronica and strings was the perfect way to end the night, contrasting the unrelenting metal assault of the rest of the night. This tour runs through December, so if you still have the chance, tickets make a great early Christmas present!

FEAR FACTORY SETLIST 540,000 Degrees Fahrenheit Transgression Slave Labor Demanufacture Self Bias Resistor Zero Signal Shock Edgecrusher Descent Big God/Raped Souls Martyr Scumgrief Linchpin Acres of Skin Cyberwaste Archetype Replica Timelessness

Band:Fear Factory Album:Transgression Record Company:Calvin Records Writer: David Andersen Click Album Cover To Buy Now

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