Fear Factory“Are these guys playing reggae or something?” one clearly confused punter quizzed his evidently unimpressed friend while Twelve Foot Ninja energetically went through their genre-bending paces. Elsewhere the crowdfunding-favouring Melbourne heavy rockers garnered converts. Utilising King For A Day…-era Faith No More and Meshuggah as their sonic platform, they transitioned from bossa nova to jazz and funk in a manner so effortless they made it appear that such styles belonged together. Kingdom, Child With No Enemy and closer, Coming For You, endeared them, as did frontman Kin's amusing story, which entailed his teenage years, posters of the headliners and masturbation.
Led by axeman Dino Cazares' jackhammer-like right hand and vocalist Burton C. Bell's trademark bipolar approach, sci-fi metallers Fear Factory trekked through their infectious singalong favourites Self Bias Resistor and Replica, apocalyptic Pisschrist and eerily gothic closer, A Therapy For Pain, with expected clinical delivery. Bell's clean vocals have long been a hit or miss proposition live, with far more of the latter these days, but devotees didn't seem too fazed even during some cringe-inducing moments. A crowd-pleasing encore meshing the staples (Shock, Edgecrusher and Martyr) with the re-introduction of What Will Become and Archetype proved a surprising move, given the latter was released during Cazares' much-lambasted exodus from the ranks. Curiously, the pointed lyrics “The infection has been removed/The soul of this machine has improved”, initially penned as a parting shot to the portly riff-meister were slightly modified to reference two former bandmates.
Despite attendance being down, probably due to this being their second visit in less than 12 months, Fear Factory continues to command one of the most loyal metal audiences in these parts. Keep fighting the machines of hate, lads.
