Some of you may question why I would put these two bands head to head, but the drama that Dino Cazares, Burton C. Bell, Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera share is just about the closest thing metal has to some of those bitch fights you see on reality TV. The fact that such bitchery exists amongst these legends of metal is a complete shame, and you can read about it here, here, and here. C'mon guys, lighten up. I also want to prove that there are no real winners here, and that's musically speaking, too. Note: I will not address Ascension of the Watchers, that project is total shit.
First off, before I rip Arkaea a new asshole, I want to point out that Wolbers admitted that some of the songs on this record were Fear Factory tracks that he and Herrera were working on. Now, you can't blame the guy for making the assumption that that's what they were going to be, hell, he was the last guy to write Fear Factory songs - 2 records worth. But here is exactly where you can blame him - you don't go and start a new project, one that you claim will be for a band you 'definitely want to continue,' when a batch of the material is meant for another band from the start. That's just wrong to me. Save it for the reunion or some shit. Why?
Because you get the following problem, Christian: you wrote a couple Fear Factory songs, and you need to write more in order to make a record, and the new songs have to be consistent with that idea. So with that, you get a really repetitive record that copies riff after riff after itself, with a singer that, no matter how good he is, just does not sound right over any of them. Why? Because he's not Burton C. Bell. That's not being purist - it's just the truth. What he lacks in ability he makes up for in his characteristic approach.
I will admit this - Christian was good enough to try some of the genre mixing Fear Factory is known for, but even that said, it comes out as "oh, that's a Rush riff; oh, that's a Korn riff; oh, that totally sounds like Deftones," and the texturing he tried to apply is more accurately a handful of monochromes. You get to wonder, how much creative force belonged to whom in Fear Factory?
Then, on top of that, Jon Howard totally sounds like Chester Bennington when he's utilizing that oh-so-popular scream-singing style. Look, I'm not a fan of Linkin Park, but it sounds cool when Chester does it, sounds like crap when nearly anyone else is doing it - especially with harmony, all over overdone Fear Factory riffs. Instead of presenting a punishing mix, you get punished for nearly an hour with predictable riff patterns, random and unimaginative divergences, in addition to a painfully annoying vocal performance. Picture lonely cartoon streetcats on a fence, crooning together to the greatest hits of Fear Factory. Pitiful.
Divine Heresy I like. Check that - liked. Now, kudos to Dino for variating on his existing guitar style and riff construction in the context of technical death metal rather than chugging out more and more tired Fear Factory stuff, but this record is just not as good as it was hyped up to be. Sure, some of these songs are speedier and more intense, but no matter how fast they play it, you've heard most of this stuff before. And while Travis Neal is more bearable than Jon Howard, he also on occasion does that torturous nu-metal scream-singing. Whatever happened to a simple, clean vocal? I will say he is a decent replacement, but Tommy Vext just has more character than this guy. Not more than Bell, but there you have it.
Overall, it seemed to me like these guys were doing what they could to be bookable on a summerfest. And on top of all this, the lyrics and song titles are either stupid or totally lackluster. Beneath the Shades of Grey? Anarchaos? You've got to be kidding me.
The single thing that irritated me the most about both of these bands records, is that, when all four forces of Fear Factory worked together, you had something really innovative, with a lot of tempered dynamics. Both of these sidebands did the classic singer's tune towards the end of the record, and all it got me to think was, "why wasn't there more of this?" Not in the sense that I wanted more ballads, because they aren't even slightly moving on both counts, but in the sense that both acts seem to be missing that spirit of experimentation and adventurism. Emphasis, then, on acts.
Final thought - while I give Divine Heresy the edge for speed (Tim Yeung is inhuman), both lose in the end. Stop being selfish, guys, end the drama, and recognize that as Fear Factory you are better than the sum of your parts.
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