''Mechanical Soul'' is the seventeenth full-length studio album by

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

band

Front Line Assembly Front Line Assembly (FLA) is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. FLA has developed its own sound incorporating elements of electronic body music and electro-industrial. The band's members ...

. It was released on January 15, 2021 on CD,

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

and digitally through

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big ci ...

. It features

Jean-Luc de Meyer Jean-Luc De Meyer (born 1957 in Brussels) is a vocalist and lyricist who is best known as the lead vocalist of the Belgian EBM group Front 242. He started singing in the experimental group "Under Viewer" with Patrick Codenys. Both joined Front ...

from Belgian EBM group Front 242 and

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 ...

from American industrial 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. ...

. It contains a remix of the track "Hatevol" from the predecessor album '' Wake Up the Coma''.

Production

The song "Stifle" features guitars by

from American industrial metal band

. The collaboration came about through Fulber's close ties with Fear Factory, as he said to ReGen Magazine: "After Bill did the vocal for 'Stifle', he thought the feel of the song would benefit from some heavy guitar accents, so I just said, 'I will ask Dino.' One call, done deal." Also, the song was proposed to be on the soundtrack for the video game

Cyberpunk 2077 ''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Set in Night City, an open world set in the ''Cyberpunk'' universe, players assume the role of a customisable mercenary kn ...

, for which Rhys Fulber had composed several tracks, but ultimately was rejected. The track "Barbarians" with vocals by

from Belgian EBM group Front 242 is a rework of the song "Future Fail" from Front Line Assembly's 2006 album ''

Artificial Soldier ''Artificial Soldier'' is the thirteenth full-length studio album by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly, released in 2006. This is the first Front Line Assembly album to feature new member Jeremy Inkel. Release In 2016, Canadian lab ...

''. According to Fulber, vocalist Bill Leeb felt that the old song "wasn't really highlighting Jean-Luc's vocals" and suggested "to come up with a different take". Leeb wanted "something ..slower and more epic". The remix of "Hatevol" under the moniker of producer Bryan Black's

Techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

project Black Asteroid was originally intended for a prior release, said Fulber: "We asked Bryan to do a remix earlier and we were going to release a single with the remix and a new song, but decided to just wait for the next album and add it on there. As the album came together, the remix wasn’t as stylistically different as before, so we thought it would be a nice contrast."

Release

On December 9, 2020,

made the track "Unknown" available to the public via

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming s ...

Touring

In fall 2021, Front Line Assembly announced that they would be presenting ''Mechanical Soul'' on tour in the United States and in Europe in 2022.

Tim Skold Tim Skold (born Thim Sköld) is a Swedish musician and record producer who produces solo work and has also collaborated with multiple musical groups including Shotgun Messiah, KMFDM, Marilyn Manson and Motionless in White. Biography Early ...

was added to the live line-up for both tour legs. On the American leg in May and June they were supported by Swedish EBM musician Rein while on the European leg in August they joined German band Die Krupps on "The Machinists Re-United Tour" with support by German EBM artist Tension Control.

Track listing

Personnel

Front Line Assembly

Bill Leeb Wilhelm Anton "Bill" Leeb (born 21 September 1966, in Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian-Canadian electronic musician and record producer. He is best known for being a founding member of the industrial music group Front Line Assembly. Additional ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, electronic instruments,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Rhys Fulber – electronic instruments, programming, production, mixing (1, 2, 4–10), vocal recording (3)

Additional musicians

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

(6) *

– vocals (8) * Bryan Black –

remixing A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

(11), additional production (11)

Technical personnel

* Greg Reely – mixing (3), vocal recording (1, 2, 4–10), mastering *

Chris Liebing Chris Liebing (born Christopher Liebing on 11 December 1968) is a German techno DJ, music producer and radio host and the founder of the record label CLR. Liebing was born in Gießen, Hesse. In the early 1990s, he became active on the Frankfur ...

– mixing (11) * Damien Rainaud – guitar recording (6) * Jeff Swearengin – additional

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

* Dave McKean –

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

, illustration

References

{{Authority control 2021 albums Front Line Assembly albums Metropolis Records albums Albums with cover art by Dave McKean Albums produced by Rhys Fulber