''Genexus'' is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band

Fear Factory Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. ...

, released on August 7, 2015. It is the third Fear Factory album since guitarist

Dino Cazares Dino Cazares (born in 1966) is an American musician, known for being the guitarist and one of the co-founders of industrial metal band Fear Factory. He is also the co-founder of the metal bands Divine Heresy, Asesino, and Brujeria. Cazares pop ...

rejoined the band in 2009, their first album to feature drummer

Mike Heller Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...

, and the final album they released with vocalist Burton C. Bell before his departure from the band in 2020, although his vocals appear on the band's next album, '' Aggression Continuum'', which was initially recorded in 2017 but not released until four years later. ''Genexus'' is also Fear Factory's first release through

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from critics. A lyric video for the song "Soul Hacker" was released on June 17. A lyric video for the song "Protomech" was released on July 11. A full music video for the song "Dielectric" was released on August 7, the same day as the album release, and a music video for "Expiration Date" was released on April 12, 2016.

Sound and production

Regarding the drums on ''Genexus'', Burton C. Bell stated: "...This time we are gonna use a live drummer, we're gonna use Mike Heller to record a few of the songs, not all of them, but a few to get that live feel, because some of these songs require a live feel, and so we're gonna go with that." Like its predecessor '' The Industrialist'' and the (at the time) 20-year-old '' Demanufacture'', ''Genexus'' is a concept album. The themes in the album include war, climate change, religion, and mortality.

Reception

''Genexus'' received a positive response by critics, praising the album for its brutal and abrasive sound. Ray Van Horn Jr. of

Blabbermouth.net Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in Octob ...

said that "the key and industrial supplements gives ''Genexus'' a busier and heartier personality, lighting up the album's prospectus of mankind transitioning toward a more mechanized state of being." Trey Spencer of

Sputnik Music Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...

surmised that "this album is more melodic and accessible, Dino Cazares and Burton C. Bell prove that they still have what it takes to make a visceral Fear Factory album." James Christopher Monger of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

commented that "more melody-driven than prior outings, ''Genexus'' nevertheless retains the band's penchant for pairing bleak science fiction imagery with piston-like, palm-muted guitar

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...

s and explosive percussion."

Touring

Between the end of August and the middle of September in 2015, the ensemble had toured the Southern,

Midwestern The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

and Southwestern United States along with

Once Human Once Human is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in t ...

, Los Angeles metal band

Before the Mourning Before the Mourning (also initialized as B4TM) was an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Los Angeles. The band has released two EPs entitled'' Remembrance'' as well as'' Damned and Forsaken'', and published full-length album'' Eth ...

and Chicago rock/metal band The Bloodline.

Track listing

Personnel

* Burton C. Bell – vocals *

– guitars, bass *

– drums (1-3, 5–9) Additional personnel * Fear Factory – production *

Drew Fulk Drew Fulk (born May 1, 1987), also known as WZRD BLD, is an American songwriter and record producer based in Los Angeles. He has worked with artists such as Disturbed, Lil Peep, Lil Wayne, Motionless in White, Kim Dracula, Highly Suspect an ...

– vocal production * Mike Plotnikoff – drum engineering * Matt Jefferson – Castronovo's drum engineering & editing *

Andy Sneap Andy Sneap (born 18 July 1969) is an English guitarist, record producer and composer with over 100 albums to his name, most of which have been produced at his Backstage Recording studios in rural Derbyshire. Some of the most critically acclaime ...

– mixing, mastering * Anthony Clarkson – artwork, layout * Geoff Bisente – additional vocal recording & editing * Rhys Fulber – programming, keyboards (3, 4, 6, 8–12), co-production, manipulation, vocal recording * Damien Rainaud – additional keyboards & programming, engineering, editing, pre-production, pre-production mixing, vocals recording * Giuseppe "Dualized" Bassi – additional keyboards, sampling & programming * Laurent Tardy – piano (1 & 5) * Sam "Mister Sam" Shearon –

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

(1 & 10) *

Deen Castronovo Deen J. Castronovo (born August 17, 1964) is an American drummer and singer, best known for being a member of classic rock band Journey and hard rock acts Bad English and Hardline. He currently plays drums and shares lead vocals for the bands Jo ...

– drums (4) *

Al Jourgensen Alain David Jourgensen (born Alejandro Ramírez Casas; October 9, 1958) is a Cuban-American singer, musician and music producer. Closely related with the independent record label Wax Trax! Records, his musical career spans four decades. He is b ...

– remix (11)

Charts

References

{{Authority control Fear Factory albums 2015 albums Concept albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Rhys Fulber