*Photography: Lior KraislerOnce it was announced that FEAR FACTORY will be performing a single show in Tel Aviv celebrating the 20th anniversary for the release of the 90's monster-magnet "Demanufacture"; the show nearly sold out at once and the production had to shift to a bigger venue. The announcement had somewhat of an interesting effect on the audience: It stirred an old emotion. That nostalgic sense of the pre-2000's sentiment, that probably resides within many hearts in any small and local metal scene worldwide. If an "ordinary" show would sell between 250-350 tickets per show, than a band the Israeli crowd has been expecting for a long time can gather up to 600-700 goers. That alone can reflect the anticipation Israel had for the mesmerizing FEAR FACTORY.
The production was tight and everything went quite smooth, except for the opening act MATRICIDE which unfortunately had to cancel due to FF's schedule being tight. The production company, ProgStage, realy took care of things with style and their productions are always rewarding and accepted warmly with the crowd.
The set was kept versatile and the band did not focus on
"Demanufacture" alone. They included hits off
"Obsolote",
"Genexus", and of course the cover for
HEAD OF DAVID's "Dog Day Sunrise" was played too.
It was quite a moving experience for me to finally see these guys live and I admit that listening to hits like "Replica" and "Zero Signal", after so many years of admiration, really threw me back to when I was just a grumpy teenager; echoing in my head "I AM RAPE!! I AM HATE!!".
Burton is an awesome, charismatic frontman and he handles the roaring side of business like a pro. His extreme voice is still very aggressive and in-your-face. Yet, his clean singing doesn't actually deliver and it's quote notable he's passed his prime, regarding live shows. Still love hearing his work when it's polished enough in the studio though. Dino is a charmer and the crowed hailed him like the architect of punchy-and-thumpy-riffs-messiah that he his. Everyone else gave their best and it was very clear how well the chemistry is between the band members themselves.
Sometimes, it really is all about rhythm and vibe. FEAR FACTORY are beasts when it comes to that.
