Fear Factory – Transgression

Calvin/Roadrunner

2005

On August 23rd Fear Factory released Transgression, the band’s sixth studio album to mostly negative reviews. Longtime fans were surprised to see a new record come hot on the heels of the bands previous effort Archetype released just the year before and it would appear that this newly reconfigured line up of the band, at the time featuring bassist Christian Olde Wolbers handling guitar duties in place of the departed Dino Cazares, was experiencing something of an creative boon. However, whilst Archetype was considered by most fans to be a serviceable return to form for the band, it’s successor would alienate most of the fan base. Some of the criticism as we will investigate later certainly stands up; Transgression is not a perfect record, but in all truth is is not the awful misstep in the bands discography that most fans attest to.

Transgression was recorded at various studios namely Hang ’em High, Downtown and Track studios respectfully in California (this will be relevant when we discuss the sound of the record). Production duties were handled by Toby Wright of Slayer and Alice in Chains fame, with additional bass duties performed by none other than Billy Gould of Faith No More. Gould, a champion of the band in their earlier days, produced the bands first demo and would lend bass to the tracks “Supernova” and “Echo of My Scream”. Speaking in 2005 to Terrorverlag magazine guitarist Olde Wolbers described the new record as “… not the typical sounding Fear Factory record you hear from us… it has more space and it breeds more for some reason… I’m trying to like, lift all the barriers up and not trying to like, y’know, stop every time when I go “that is something we normally wouldn’t do!” I’ve been trying not to do that on this record and just go for it”.

Transgression kick things off with “540,000 Degree Fahrenheit” probably the most typical sounding FF tune to be found on the record. Beginning with a syncopated guitar riff replicated by syncopated drumming by Raymond Herrera and rumbling bass by Byron Stroud the track then transitions into a soaring almost poppy chorus section with a melodic chorus riff, with the harsher sounding verse section returning again. before a climatic bridge section and chorus sees out the song with an apocalyptic ending. So far, so good and Burton C. Bell’s vocals sound excellent here and is somewhat louder and more clear than on previous releases. Sadly that’s as good as the sound of the record gets; put simply Trangression is an awful sounding record, if that is due in part to the many studios the record was produced in or the rushed nature of the records conception and execution is up for debate but it just sounds terrible. The guitars and bass are far too low in the mix and the vocals and drums dominate. This is a lesson in how not to mix a metal record.

Next up is the title track “Transgression” the tracks starts promisingly enough with a classic stomping kick drum and aggressive metal riff which then leads into the track proper. However, while Burton sounded great on the previous track, he sounds ragged here and the vocals are totally at odds with the inoffensive music underneath. This unbalance continues to the chorus section which features another melodic riff from Olde Wolbers and virtually makes the track redundant which is a shame because the song has some potential, its just written poorly. “Spinal Compression” follows with a nimble opening riff and that rare thing from Herrera; drum fills, before leading into the track proper with Burton’s agonized screams. “Spinal Compression” does an excellent job of building tension throughout repeating the opening riff with sporadic blasting from Herrera before the eventual climax of the first ethereal chorus section. As a result the track is interesting enough for the listener is remain engaged and the track doesn’t outstay it’s welcome, even if the song ends rather abruptly.

Next up is the excellent “Contagion” probably the first real track on Trangression that announces a more nuanced musical concept from Fear Factory. It starts traditionally enough with the tried and true mechanical riffing and harsh vocals before transitioning into a very clean vocal refrain from Burton which is almost poppy in its execution before then leading into a hugely cold pessimistic refrain of “Who wants to live, forever?” It’s this strange synergy of almost poppy hooks and detached coldness which makes the track standout and when this formula works on Trangression, it really makes the record stand out. However the same cannot be said for the next track “Empty Vision” a track that is utterly let down by the wafer thin production; there are a lot of good ideas to be found here, but the track comes off as utterly anemic and the guitars are totally flat throughout, especially in the bridge section of the track, Wolbers had proved on Archetype that he it a fine guitarist in his own right, but this track is not one of his finer moments. The remarkable “Echo Of My Scream” is next and any doubts old school FF fans had up until this point where no doubt fully realised upon hearing this track. Put simply, this is the least sounding FF track ever recorded before or since, with the possible exception of “Supernova” and it is a fascinating listen as a result. Beginning with pensive guitar from Olde Wolbers which continues throughout and stripped back percussion from Herrera along with Burton’s watery effect laden vocals, the track has an eerie otherworldly feel to it with a triumphant chorus section featuring strings and an excellent vocal from Bell. A definite highlight of the record but one which certainly spit opinion among the fan-base.

Well, strap yourselves in folks because the next track “Supernova” is a veritable pop song. Yup, you heard right, FF wrote a pop song. A good one too. Although not quite as interesting as “Echo of My Scream” the track is still an interesting listen simply because it’s so left field. Beginning with a jangly, (dare I say happy?) guitar riff before leading into a pensive verse section and then transitioning into a huge pop chorus, in fact, the track was chosen as the record lead single.”Supernova” is an interesting experiment that works for the most part, when-either or not you like FF delving into pop rock territory is really a matter of personal preference however. Next up is “New Promise” which is effectively a kind of mechanical ballad with a quiet intro section much like “Echo Of My Scream” before the track kicks in proper with an alternative style metal riff which continues throughout and even features a guitar solo of sorts from Olde Wolbers, something unique to FF at that time. “New Promise” is a decent track if not a bit samey to some of the material already featured on Transgression. The first of the records two cover songs is next and it is, incredibly, a U2 song. “I Will Follow” according to Olde Wolbers was never even meant to be on Transgression, Olde Wolbers: “That was gonna be a B-side… when the label got a hold of the tracks and heard “I Will Follow” they were like “Oh! we are gonna put this on the record!” and we were like “We didn’t put it on the record!” and they were like “we are gonna put it on the record”. We didn’t wanna argue with them either because it might be the best move”. The track is a faithful rendition of the U2 classic and is largely inoffensive. Hard core FF were mostly appalled however, it was somewhat forgotten that is was Bell singing U2 songs in the shower in the earlier days that got him jamming with Cazeres in the first place.

Of much greater interest though is FF’s stunning rendition of seminal rock/punk band Killing Joke’s “Millennium”. If ever there were a track designated for the FF treatment it is this one; a gloriously nihilistic tune which fits perfectly with FF’s modus operandi featuring a groove metal riff that will made your head bang involuntarily, the track is easily one of the highlights of the record and FF arguably make it their own. Transgression sadly, however, ends on something of a sour note. “Moment Of Impact” is a truly awful song bolted together without any real cohesion or flow and thus feels like something of an afterthought.. The track is utterly throwaway and the music video is quite simply laughable.

Transgression was released to almost universally negative reviews and fans more or less hated the record. I think a lot of the criticism are vastly unfair. There are some genuinely good tracks on the record and it was refreshing to hear FF eschew the tired Man V Machine shtick which had become dated sometime after Obsolete. Transgression is a more ethereal listening experience as Bell stated in an interview with Kilpop last year:” Transgression was our rock record. We totally alienated much of our fan-base. People were like ” that was you?! that doesn’t sound like Fear Factory” and I’m like “well, that’s what the title Transgression means”. Fans certainly were perplexed and it wasn’t really until the release of the excellent Mechanize in 2010 (with the return of and departures of Cazeres and Herrera and Olde Wolbers respectively) that much of the fan base became interested in the band again. Transgression is certainly is not to everyone’s tastes but if you dismissed it at the time of its release give it a listen again; it is a product of its time and an utterly unique record in the FF discography and easily a stronger record than the FF-by-the-numbers release that was The Industrialist. Who knows, you may even find yourself singling along to “Supernova” in the shower…

Works cited:

Mahsmann, Steffi., (2005, September) Fear Factory – Christian Olde Wolbers, Terrorvelag.

Kilpop Stage Left: Burton C. Bell on Kilpop.com https://youtu.be/5Pc3Cd3XvHM