Obsolete (album)

Untitled

Obsolete is the third full-length album released by Fear Factory on July 28, 1998. The album drops the Death Metal style featured on Soul of a New Machine and Demanufacture. The album is also considered a sequel to Demanufacture, the band's second full-length release. It is also their third studio release as Remanufacture is a remix album.

This album is the band's most popular to date. It was certified Gold in Australia by ARIA and also in the US by RIAA. It was once called "the heaviest album of 1998" by MTV.

Concept

A concept story is contained within the music. The story is about the future of mankind and how machines have taken over humanity. This was inspired by the band's belief that humanity has become too reliant on technology. However, a hero named Edgecrusher sets out to destroy the machines and save humanity. The story of Obsolete was inspired by books like The Boys from Brazil, Brave New World, and 1984.

Track listing

1. "Shock" (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 4:58
2. "Edgecrusher" ft. Pat Hoed & DJ Zodak (Bell/Madchild/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 3:39
3. "Smasher/Devourer" (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 5:34
4. "Securitron (Police State 2000)" (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 5:47
5. "Descent" (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 4:36
6. "Hi-Tech Hate" (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 4:33
7. "Freedom or Fire" (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 5:11
8. "Obsolete" ft. Gary Numan (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 3:51
9. "Resurrection" ft. El Feroce, Susie Hodge, Walter Creery, Falstaff Fallen, Monty Washington, Coco Collingwood, Narcissa, Pepé Lamoco, Cleo Ledingham & Chelsea Devon (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 6:35
10. "Timelessness" ft. El Feroce, Susie Hodge, Walter Creery, Falstaff Fallen, Monty Washington, Coco Collingwood, Narcissa, Pepé Lamoco, Cleo Ledingham & Chelsea Devon (Bell/Cazares/Fulber) – 4:08

Bonus tracks

A digipak version of Obsolete released on March 23, 1999 contains additional tracks:

11. "Cars" ft. Gary Numan (Gary Numan cover) – 3:37
12. "0-0 (Where Evil Dwells" (Wiseblood cover) – 5:16
13. "Soulwound" (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 3:51
14. "Messiah" (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 3:31
15. "Concreto" (Bell/Cazares/Herrera/Wolbers) – 3:30

Characters

Edgecrusher

Edgecrusher is the main character and protagonist and is also the name of a song on the album. It is unknown who Edgecrusher truly is but from reading the lyrics, he might be a cyborg. His human side must have been more prevalent if he preferred to save humanity instead of assist the machines that control the Earth to destroy it.

In the songs "Shock", "Descent", "Hi-Tech Hate", "Freedom or Fire" and "Resurrection", Burton C. Bell portrays Edgecrusher as the one singing the lyrics. The closer song, "Timelessness", is about him as well. As he has been captured by the Securitron in the story's conclusion, the song captures his words (or thoughts) of fear and despair from jail.

Securitron

The Securitron are the antagonists in the story and their name is part of the album's song, "Securitron (Police State 2000)".

In the story, they serve as law enforcement, governmental leaders and are deadset in keeping humanity in-line. Securitron is an actual organization that controls the police of the future, the Police 2000 and also Smasher/Devourer. It is the increased use and abuse of machinery by humanity that caused them to come into existence. They appear to be all over the world and to ensure no crime is gone un-seen, they have set large monitors in various places to keep humanity under their view. This is much like how The Party in Nineteen Eighty-Four utilized the telescreens on the population of Oceania. They themselves are likely cyborgs and also appear to be draining the Earth's resources. Despite keeping humanity under control, their true plans seem to lean on making humanity extinct.

They come out victorious against Edgecrusher as in the end of the album they capture and imprison him.

Smasher/Devourer

Smasher/Devourer is the secondary antagonist in the story and is also the name of a song on the album.

From the description given in the album's booklet, the Smasher/Devourer is a large robot with an "egg-like frame" and "its arms are actually weaponry for protection": no further information on its design is given and what the machine really could look like is left to the imagination, but the description recalls the design of ED-209 from the Robocop movies. It is used to hunt down criminals and may have once been used to protect humanity but the Securitron reprogrammed it to be mankind's enemy. In the story, it's sent on a mission to kill Edgecrusher.

According to guitarist, Dino Cazares, the Smasher/Devourer is like a Terminator and can wipe out anything on Earth.

The machine is last mentioned in the booklet's page for the song "Descent" and its status after that is unclear.

Story line

The whole plot of the album is presented in the album booklet in the form of a movie script with the lyrics intertwined in the story itself. The prologue is the following: "2076 A.D. Everything that you believe to be true is a contradiction. Imagine a world that is suffering a slow decay, and a culture on the edge of extinction. A world in chaos brought to obedient order by the machines that man created. The linear programming that the system machine created to bring order is failing steadily due to the one variable the machines cannot compute... humanity. In this time, man has become a docile creature herded into submission under the mechanical laws that apply, programmed and desensitized for their convenience. However, there are certain persons drawn together for reasons that are grounds for punishment, or even death. These people long and yearn for a change within the infrastructure, a better way of life, and a logical existence. These people create factions that congregate in total secrecy in places random and unknown. These factions maintain chaos in society in order to disrupt the system, locate the weak spot, and trigger a collapsing effect. Their anger is only superseded by their will to exist, and nothing could be stronger."

Scene I

The album starts off with "Shock", which is much like a declaration of the intentions of Edgecrusher. He is in the center of a dim, tungsten-let room surrounded with people with the intent to hear what he is saying. Basically, what he says is that he will lead the opposition, the detractors of this totalitarian regime, and his aim is to destroy the current system and change it to a better one ("Shock to the system" as it is said in the lyrics), so he's going to act as a trigger for this revolution. The next song is "Edgecrusher". In the script we find out from a newscast that the previous event took place in a prison called the MSC (Maxi-Security Containment) Facility. The reporter tells us that a breach was instigated by the Faction, but Edgecrusher caused the actual riot from inside. We are also told that he was serving a sentence for Public Disorder and Infrastructure Sabotage, than they show a clip of the breach, which is the song itself describing the break of the prisoners (hence the chorus "Break of the edgecrusher"). Before "Smasher/Devourer" the reporter details the damage and deaths caused by Edgecrusher (he must have had great strength to kill all the guards by himself or perhaps he was assisted by his cell mates) and after that we are introduced to the Smasher/Devourer character which is described in the booklet as the following: "On the monitor appears an image that looks like solid and mechanical. A bi-pedal design with an egg-shaped, armoured mainframe. What appears to be arms are actually weaponry for protection." The live coverage shows the robot's search for Edgecrusher and his companionship while the song is actually the commands of the machine to the hostile congregation ("I am the way, prepare for salvation"). "Securitron (Police State 2000)" is the last song of the first scene and the next entity to start chasing Edgecrusher. Edgecrusher is constantly watched by the monitors of Securitron so he descends underground, into the shadows below street level where apparently the refuse is, but he knows that he is safe from incident from any enforcer among the trash. The song is about the police of this dictatorial regime, the Police 2000: how oppressive they are and how they're everywhere not giving any privacy or freedom to citizens. In the end of the scene Edgecrusher is forced to surface and the scene fades out with him running down a deserted street into the night.

Scene II

The scene opens with "Descent". Edgecrusher is alone in this song, he has grown tired from running for so long from Smasher/Devourer and the Securitron. He wonders if his mission is worth it, he dwells upon his life, and what it actually amounts to. Edgecrusher stops in an abandoned building to rest himself. As he falls to sleep on a cold, flat floor, he repeats the same words as he does every night; they are the lyrics to this song. As he wakes up and looks to the sky he realizes that his life is worth the effort, so he keeps going.

Scene III

"Hi-Tech Hate" is the first song of this scene. It depicts an anti-war protest of factions of various dissensions in front of the Securitron base, a heavily guarded fortress. The lyrics are the words of a man who emerges and speaks to the crowd through a megaphone. The song is basically an anti-war, anti-nuclear proclamation from Dino Cazares. As the man finishes the Securitron enforcers move in on the crowd. He sees no way out of this situation: true freedom cannot be realized in a scrutinized society. He takes a can of gasoline and pours it on himself. With the match in his fingers, the lyrics of "Freedom or Fire" are his final words. This act of self-immolation is very much like Thích Quảng Đức's one. "Obsolete" starts with a spoken intro by Gary Numan. They are the words of a Securitron enforcer who grabs the megaphone after the members of the crowd disperse in order to escape detainment of the enforcers. Of course, the main message of the song is that "man is obsolete" and that "our world [is] obsolete". Edgecrusher has witnessed the events of this 3 songs and it makes him think how their humanity disappeared into the darkness, how mechanised they have become. As he eludes the enforcers he enters a church and finds a statue of Jesus Christ. He has seen this image before. He apparently gains a lot of memories from seeing the statue and he extends his arm to touch the face of it. In the song "Resurrection" Edgecrusher swears to continue his mission to save humanity. (This was also depicted in the music video.) "Timelessness" closes the scene and the album too. Edgecrusher walks away from the figure, and as he glances back it seems as though it he has been weeping. The Securitron forces capture Edgecrusher in the conclusion and this last song has a very melancholic feel to it. The lyrics are desperate; they are Edgecrusher's words (or probably thoughts) from the jail. We can feel his fear and despair: he lost his battle against machines and failed in saving mankind.

Credits

• Burton C. Bell - Vocals
• Dino Cazares - Guitar, Mixing
• Fear Factory - Producer
• Rhys Fulber - Keyboards, Programming, Producer, Mixing
• Raymond Herrera - Drums
• Gary Numan - Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part
• Greg Reely - Producer, Mixing
• Christian Olde Wolbers - Bass
• DJ Zodak - Scratching on "Edgecrusher"

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1998	The Billboard 200	77

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1999	"Descent"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	38
1999	"Cars"	Modern Rock Tracks	38
1999	"Cars"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	16

Miscellanea

• Dino Cazares made his debut with seven-string guitars on this album.
• Gary Numan also appears on the cover of his song "Cars".