Fear Factory / Hatefiles
| Album: | Hatefiles | Collection: | General | |
| Artist: | Fear Factory | Added: | May 2003 | |
| Label: | Roadrunner Records | |||
Recent Airplay
| 1. | May 25, 2006: | to heavy for titanium
Cars (Numancid Mix) |
2. | Jan 15, 2004: | Dolce!
Cyberdyne, Manic Cure, New Breed (Spoetnik Mix) |
Album Review
Orges
Reviewed 2003-05-09
Reviewed 2003-05-09
Fear Factory – Hatefiles (Roadrunner Records)
Let me begin by saying that I am a huge fan of Fear Factory. I have loved them from the first time I heard them, and I honestly believe them to be huge innovators, salvaging a dying genre and revolutionizing a dead or dying scene. They were one of the first bands to do the growled-verse/clean-chorus or vice-versa thing. They added dark, moody, industrial tinges to their already cold and bleak soundscape that made them unforgettable. And then internal strife broke them up. So it goes. This is a collection of unreleased tracks, unreleased demos, rare/hard-to-find tracks that appeared on now-deleted foreign releases, and so on. This CD is for the ultimate hardcore fanatics only (i.e. me), and it offers nothing else to other, casual listeners. The only real interesting thing here is the opportunity to see how some of the demos developed into their final form, how some of the song ideas were discarded and others re-used. First of all, all real, true fans probably have all of these songs, anyway. I sure do. Second, the band didn’t sign off on these. Dino Cazares, their guitarist, the one who got kicked out of the band for being an asshole, was the only one who approved of this release, and it seems like that’s all Roadrunner needed. Fuck Roadrunner for trying to milk every last potential dime from the reputation of a great band. Lastly, almost all of these songs were released on the “Digital Connectivity” DVD, which came out last year (and what a fuck-up that was). Once again, fuck Roadrunner. There are only a few playable tracks of interest, the rest are just too obscure and unimportant.
Tracks:
1) The last FF track recorded by the original lineup, this was meant for a videogame. It’s a good song, very classic FF with some major ear candy.
2) The second-to-last track recorded by the original FF lineup, yet another videogame song. Another very good song, but I’ve had these bootlegs for months now, so the novelty is kinda lost on me.
3) Awesome! 50 seconds of pure unadulterated FF classic violent mayhem. This is like a huge wall of sound. It starts midtempo and speeds up to this breakneck speed before ending abruptly. Once again, I’ve had this song for months now.
4) Instrumental, with some of the parts of it reused for later songs. Cool track, with lots of changeups.
5) A remix track of a classic, amazing FF song. The booklet says that most fans prefer this version to the original. The booklet lies. NO ONE prefers this version to the original. This version is merely more radio friendly since the crushing, heavy mid-section of the song (at 2:10, you can even tell something’s missing) was removed. Ignore this piece-of-shit song.
6) Another worthless remix that merely makes this excellent song seem like it was recorded by another band. I mean, still a great song, just not FF.
7-8) Two worthless remixes that just follow the basic remix formula of add-new-drum-track/add-new-loops/ruin-song. I’ve had these on the unnecessarily overpriced “Cars” German single and I didn’t like them then, and I fuckin’ hate them now.
9) A version of the song that was scrapped and then remixed, and it sounds good. The one improvement I can hear is that the bass is audible. I actually do like this version better.
10) Same as #9, except that for the final version, which did end up on the album (“Demanufacture”), the verses were completely re-recorded.
11) The band’s only “hit” single came via a cover, and it sounded so fucking cool. This is the version of the song where only Gary Numan sings. It’s cool, but the version with Burton and Numan sharing vocal duties had a more badass guitar tone.
12) A demo of track 5, this sounds cool, but it’s not exactly playable unless you’re doing a retrospective on FF (Sunday School?). Once again the liner notes say this version’s chorus is “clearly superior” to the final, album version. What the fuck is Monte Conner smoking, I want me some of that potent shit.
13) Live track of one of their best songs, this version has been around for ages, I shit you not. I’ve no idea why it’s even included here; every self-respecting FF fan has this. Furthermore, they butchered the song by removing the intro where Burton screams “Fuck MTV!”
14-15) Two remixes of the same song that are practically outtakes from the “Remanufacture” sessions. These are pretty worthless.
16) The last three songs on this CD are three Gabber mixes of different FF songs, and I can’t explain the inclusion of any one of them on their own. What they needed to do is include the entire “Gabber Mixes” 12”. Nonetheless, these are all worthwhile. #16 is a cool, real techno version of “New Breed” (which I’ve owned in various bootleg forms for years).
17) Gabber mix of four FF songs. Eh, it’s ok.
18) The best of the Gabber mixes, this sounds so fucking weird, and it’s so cool. Play this just for the hell of it, ‘cause it’ll freak out your listeners, and maybe even you.
Orges Beqiri
Let me begin by saying that I am a huge fan of Fear Factory. I have loved them from the first time I heard them, and I honestly believe them to be huge innovators, salvaging a dying genre and revolutionizing a dead or dying scene. They were one of the first bands to do the growled-verse/clean-chorus or vice-versa thing. They added dark, moody, industrial tinges to their already cold and bleak soundscape that made them unforgettable. And then internal strife broke them up. So it goes. This is a collection of unreleased tracks, unreleased demos, rare/hard-to-find tracks that appeared on now-deleted foreign releases, and so on. This CD is for the ultimate hardcore fanatics only (i.e. me), and it offers nothing else to other, casual listeners. The only real interesting thing here is the opportunity to see how some of the demos developed into their final form, how some of the song ideas were discarded and others re-used. First of all, all real, true fans probably have all of these songs, anyway. I sure do. Second, the band didn’t sign off on these. Dino Cazares, their guitarist, the one who got kicked out of the band for being an asshole, was the only one who approved of this release, and it seems like that’s all Roadrunner needed. Fuck Roadrunner for trying to milk every last potential dime from the reputation of a great band. Lastly, almost all of these songs were released on the “Digital Connectivity” DVD, which came out last year (and what a fuck-up that was). Once again, fuck Roadrunner. There are only a few playable tracks of interest, the rest are just too obscure and unimportant.
Tracks:
1) The last FF track recorded by the original lineup, this was meant for a videogame. It’s a good song, very classic FF with some major ear candy.
2) The second-to-last track recorded by the original FF lineup, yet another videogame song. Another very good song, but I’ve had these bootlegs for months now, so the novelty is kinda lost on me.
3) Awesome! 50 seconds of pure unadulterated FF classic violent mayhem. This is like a huge wall of sound. It starts midtempo and speeds up to this breakneck speed before ending abruptly. Once again, I’ve had this song for months now.
4) Instrumental, with some of the parts of it reused for later songs. Cool track, with lots of changeups.
5) A remix track of a classic, amazing FF song. The booklet says that most fans prefer this version to the original. The booklet lies. NO ONE prefers this version to the original. This version is merely more radio friendly since the crushing, heavy mid-section of the song (at 2:10, you can even tell something’s missing) was removed. Ignore this piece-of-shit song.
6) Another worthless remix that merely makes this excellent song seem like it was recorded by another band. I mean, still a great song, just not FF.
7-8) Two worthless remixes that just follow the basic remix formula of add-new-drum-track/add-new-loops/ruin-song. I’ve had these on the unnecessarily overpriced “Cars” German single and I didn’t like them then, and I fuckin’ hate them now.
9) A version of the song that was scrapped and then remixed, and it sounds good. The one improvement I can hear is that the bass is audible. I actually do like this version better.
10) Same as #9, except that for the final version, which did end up on the album (“Demanufacture”), the verses were completely re-recorded.
11) The band’s only “hit” single came via a cover, and it sounded so fucking cool. This is the version of the song where only Gary Numan sings. It’s cool, but the version with Burton and Numan sharing vocal duties had a more badass guitar tone.
12) A demo of track 5, this sounds cool, but it’s not exactly playable unless you’re doing a retrospective on FF (Sunday School?). Once again the liner notes say this version’s chorus is “clearly superior” to the final, album version. What the fuck is Monte Conner smoking, I want me some of that potent shit.
13) Live track of one of their best songs, this version has been around for ages, I shit you not. I’ve no idea why it’s even included here; every self-respecting FF fan has this. Furthermore, they butchered the song by removing the intro where Burton screams “Fuck MTV!”
14-15) Two remixes of the same song that are practically outtakes from the “Remanufacture” sessions. These are pretty worthless.
16) The last three songs on this CD are three Gabber mixes of different FF songs, and I can’t explain the inclusion of any one of them on their own. What they needed to do is include the entire “Gabber Mixes” 12”. Nonetheless, these are all worthwhile. #16 is a cool, real techno version of “New Breed” (which I’ve owned in various bootleg forms for years).
17) Gabber mix of four FF songs. Eh, it’s ok.
18) The best of the Gabber mixes, this sounds so fucking weird, and it’s so cool. Play this just for the hell of it, ‘cause it’ll freak out your listeners, and maybe even you.
Orges Beqiri
Track Listing