Demanufacture is the second studio album by American industrial metal band Fear Factory, released on June 13, 1995, by Roadrunner Records. It is the band's first album with their classic line-up, adding new bassist Christian Olde Wolbers, who performed on close to half of the album's tracks, with guitarist Dino Cazares handling the rest. Many regard it as the band's best album and a heavy metal classic. The album was certified Gold in Australia by ARIA and Silver in the UK by the BPI.

Album information Demanufacture is a concept album about a man's struggles against a machine-controlled government, with each song a chapter in his life. The band stated the album took its inspiration from the movie The Terminator.

The album was recorded at Bearsville Studios in rural New York. Also in residence at the studio was Bon Jovi, recording their album These Days. Fear Factory were in the studio next door and one of Bon Jovi's engineers asked them to turn the sound down, as it was bleeding into Bon Jovi's drum mics, during Bon Jovi's recording sessions.

After the release of the album, some critics and observers suggested that drummer Raymond Herrera had in fact used a drum machine, due to the often blistering speed and machine-like precision of the drumming, most notably on the kick drums. He records, however, with a click track to keep time. He is also known to use triggers on his drum sets for the purpose of keeping the sound of his drums consistent, particularly kick drums, regardless of how hard they are struck. This is a common strategy used by metal drummers when playing at such speeds, as relatively few drummers are able to achieve such rapid and consistent notes without the use of triggers.

Involvement of Christian Olde Wolbers Although Christian Olde Wolbers is credited as the bassist for the album and appears in the band photo, Dino Cazares has repeatedly claimed to have played bass himself on all tracks; because Olde Wolbers was not in the band during recording but joined before the album's release and promotional tour. However, this is contradicted by former drummer Raymond Hererra who has said that Olde Wolbers was a full member during production but did not perform on all tracks, due to Cazares re-arranging many riffs during tracking of his guitars. The band were behind schedule with recording and Olde Wolbers did not have time to learn the new arrangements so Cazares recorded bass on these tracks. In a 1998 interview with Terrorizer (with the whole band present), Olde Wolbers states that Cazares performed "45 to 50 percent of the bass" on Demanufacture. Olde Wolbers later mentioned in an interview in 2004 that he made a small contribution to the writing of the title track and "Pisschrist".

Reception

Upon its release, Demanufacture proved to be extraordinarily successful and received universal acclaim from both music critics and extreme metal fans. It is often regarded as the band's best album. Andrew Kapper of About.com named Demanufacture as the recommended album to listen to by the band, and stated in his review:

"Replica" was covered by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica in 2007 as part of a "deluxe re-release" of the album The Divine Conspiracy, and was performed live by them at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, California, with Dino Cazares joining on stage in September 2007. "Flashpoint" was covered as a one-man effort by American metal artist Common Dead in 2012 as a standalone single. "Pisschrist" was covered by American heavy metal band Byzantine in 2016 as part of their re-release of their 2015 album To Release Is to Resolve for the European region.

Legacy Tracks 1 to 4 were featured on 2006's The Best of Fear Factory.

In July 2013, the band toured Australia performing Demanufacture in its entirety.

In celebration of the 20 year anniversary of Demanufacture in 2015, Fear Factory embarked on a tour across Europe and North America playing the album.

Track listing All music by Dino Cazares and Raymond Herrera except where noted; All lyrics by Burton C. Bell except where noted

Remastered Special Edition (2005)

On June 7, 2005, a newly remastered, "special edition" of Demanufacture was issued in an all-new, 2-Disc digipak. Demanufacture (Special Edition) was released as part of the Roadrunner Records 25th Anniversary Reissue Series.

Disc 1 included the remastered, Demanufacture album, along with bonus tracks, mostly from the Demanufacture sessions.

Disc 2 included the remastered, Remanufacture – Cloning Technology album, along with bonus tracks from the Remanufacture remix sessions.

Disc 1 Notes:

▪︎Remastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, NYC - March 2005

▪︎Bonus tracks 12–15 were recorded and mixed as part of the Demanufacture sessions

▪︎One other song from the Demanufacture sessions, "Replica (Electric Sheep Mix)", was not included due to space limitations, but it was previously available on the (US & Canadian) digipak version of Demanufacture

▪︎Bonus Track 17 is an out-take from the Remanufacture remix sessions

▪︎Bonus Track 16 is not an out-take - it was created independently of the Remanufacture album

Personnel Fear Factory Burton C. Bell (credited as "Dry Lung Vocal Martyr") – vocals, arrangements, additional keyboards, lyrics Dino Cazares (credited as "Heavy Duty Scarifier") – guitars, bass Raymond Herrera (credited as "Maximum Effective Pulse Generator") – drums Christian Olde Wolbers (credited as "Total Harmonic Distortion") – bass

Additional musicians Reynor Diego – live keyboards, sampling, add. keyboards Rhys Fulber – keyboards, synthesizers, sampling, effects, mixing Freddy Cricien – guest vocals on "Your Mistake"

Additional personnel Colin Richardson – production Dave McKean – cover artwork Greg Reely – mixing George Marino – mastering Ted Jensen – remastering (2005 Special Edition)

Charts Album ChartPeakU.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers 26 Dutch Album Charts 53 German Album Charts 31 UK Albums Chart 27

Release history Region Date Format LabelUKMarch 3, 1995CDRoadrunner RecordsWorldJune 13, 1995CDRoadrunner RecordsWorld except Australia and parts of CanadaNovember 7, 1995CDRoadrunner RecordsWorld2003CDRoadrunner RecordsWorldJune 7, 2005CDRoadrunner Records

References