FEAR FACTORY Mechanize (2010 UK 10-track vinyl LP - 'Mechanize' is a full-fisted blast of passion and innovation that sounds like the missing link betweens 1995's groundbreaking 'Demanufacture' and 1998's more texturally nuanced Obsolete. Songs like 'Industrial Discipline' and 'Powershifter' are crushing and colossal, melding fast and precise rhythms with vocals that pinwheel from raw and scathing to hauntingly melodic while 'Fear Campaign', which features harrowing spoken word passages, quickly segues into a showcase of punishing beats, rapid fire riffs and ghostly keyboards. While 'Mechanize' is instantly reminiscent of Fear Factory's most potent moments of discovery, it's hardly a stroll down the old assembly line. Be it the orchestral keyboard swells of 'Christploitation', the keyboard-infused dirge of 'Final Exit', the taped screams and radio transmissions of 'Controlled Demolition' or the last gasp-under-shattered-glass samples of 'Metallic Division', the combination of technological advancements and experience of Fear Factory have evolved like a computer virus, constantly reconfiguring itself to maximize its destructive impact)