The Best of Fear Factory, released alongside several other Roadrunner Records retrospectives in 2006, focuses on the industrial metal band's recordings with guitarist
Dino Cazares, a founding member and songwriter who left the band after
Digimortal (2001). The refined focus helps strengthen the overall quality of this compilation, since it centers on
Fear Factory's prime output, namely
Soul of a New Machine (released in 1992 and represented here by three inclusions) and
Demanufacture (1995; four), the band's two collaborations with producer
Colin Richardson, as well as
Obsolete (1998; four) and
Digimortal (2001; one), two lesser, if more experimental, albums produced by
Rhys Fulber of
Front Line Assembly. The inclusions are all well selected, including key songs like "Martyr" and "Resurrection." Plus, there's the inclusion of "Cars," a cover of the well-known
Gary Numan song given an expectedly heavy overhaul.
The Best of Fear Factory may be the only one of the band's releases many listeners will need. As stated, it includes all the key songs from
Fear Factory's prime in an affordable single-disc package, and while the individual albums are worthwhile listens in and of themselves, albeit intermittently ponderous, it's probably best to start with a well-compiled sampler like this and pursue the albums secondarily (if at all), once you get a sense of which seem most appealing in character.
Demanufacture is probably the place you'll want to start, in terms of individual albums.
Soul of a New Machine is also recommended; it's not on a par with
Demanufacture, but it illuminates how raw and groundbreaking
Fear Factory sounded upon their debut in 1992. Also, though it's not represented here by any inclusions,
Concrete is another album worth investigating, especially if you like
Soul of a New Machine.
Concrete actually predates
Soul; it's the band's long-shelved first album, produced by a young
Ross Robinson and not officially released until 2002, after the departure of
Cazares put the future of
Fear Factory in jeopardy. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide