Fear Factory’s second album Demanufacture broke some significant ground when it came out, around 18 years ago. Metal was going through an odd phase, almost an identity crisis. Major acts of the ’80s were either dormant or had lost their bearings. While the main stream was dominated by your alternative, grunge, industrial, lollapalooza bound acts, real metal went back to the underground, death metal and groove metal being two of the genres that kept plodding on. Well, Fear Factory kinda provided a link between both worlds, as their releases, and in particular this album, appealed both to the Pantera or Marylin Manson seeking masses and to the more underground aficionados.
The album was a success, being certified gold in Australia years later. So the band decided to finally come down under once more, but this time to play the darn thing from top to bottom. Not surprisingly, a packed venue waited to welcome the LA legends, but only after cheering loudly to acknowledge the competence of opening act Twelve Foot Ninja – that greeted punters with their odd yet interesting mix of funk, reggae, groove metal and alternative.
Main event started shortly after and boy, it was loud, mighty, skeleton-shaking and mind blowing. One by one, and in order, all tracks of the seminal release were unleashed, causing frenzy in the mosh pit and pain – good pain, mind you – on necks and limbs of all present, that could not resist against the impact of such sonic boom. As expected, highlights to Self Bias Resistor and Replica – the latter sung in unison by the crowd, even the ones in the mosh pit, that somehow managed to utter the words amidst attempts to void the thicket of flying bodies crowd-surfing to the front.
The encore was comprised of songs from other eras, including the gem Martyr from their first album Soul of a New Machine – back then a sign of what was about to come out. Punters left excited, exhausted, reeling from the brutality of this still quite relevant band, and their still quite seminal past.
Set-List:
Demanufacture
Self Bias Resistor
Zero Signal
Replica
New Breed
Dog Day Sunrise
Body Hammer
Flashpoint
H-K (Hunter-Killer)
Pisschrist
A Therapy for Pain
Encore:
Shock
Edgecrusher
What Will Become?
Archetype
Martyr
– Photos by Carbie Warbie
