Review by Adam M on April 8, 2010.

One thing you’ll notice right from the start of "Mechanize" is the feverish aggression with which the band plays. There seems to be a fuel to the fire as the band has a lot of passion behind them. There’s a lot of staccato riffs that brings to mind some of their classic moments from "Demanufacture". The melodic portions do make an appearance, but there does seem to be a concentration on balanced aggression. It all makes for a more solid album than "Archetype" in every way. It’s nice to see the band fully back on track and putting on a smashing display of versatility. There aren’t really any moments where the album lags and falls flat, it all crushes in some form or another.

There seems to be a desire to be as efficient and deadly as possible, which is great for the band at this point of their career. There might be the possibility of the band slipping into a lazy trance, but that is certainly never the case to be found on "Mechanize". 'Designing The Enemy' and 'Final Exit' caught my attention amongst the tracks because they were a nice change of pace from the remainder and had some interesting melodic singing on the part of Burton C. Bell. All of the performances are quite solid with nimble drumming and enjoyable singing, although the clean vocals aren’t used as much as they have been in the past.

The album ranks about equal to "Obsolete" in terms of its quality. It’s good to see the band back in form and improving upon "Archetype" by so much. The material is tightly performed and very enjoyable to listen to. Overall, Fear Factory has a winner on their hands with "Mechanize" which is easily recommended to fans of the band’s previous material or just looking for a well constructed metal album.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8.5
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8.5
Originality: 7.5
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.4 out of 10