Live Review: Fear Factory @The O2 Forum, London (13/12/15)

20 years of Demanufacture…

I’m not a big fan of tours that focus on playing one album back-to-back especially when they have such a rich history of music as well as new & quality releases. However I can go along with the idea when the album is hugely significant, which is the case here with Demanufacture.

Also the chance to hear Zero Signal played live? Yes, please!

The O2 Forum in Kentish Town is a tricky place for bands to play, being notorious for bad sound. In fact Fear Factory have played there previously & had a torrid time with the soft vocals disappearing as if they were outside in high winds or everything being drowned out by the drums. Things there seem to be improving though with several bands that played there this year sounding immense (Blind Guardian & While She Sleeps to name two).

Whatever has changed at the Forum has been overdue for a long time & Fear Factory sound incredible. In fact this might be one of the best, sound wise, that I’ve ever seen them! From the moment the band take to the stage to rapturous cheers, they are tight throughout, loud & heavy but not too much allowing you hear every instrument. Burtons immense vocal range can bring a grown man to tears & here he sounds stronger than ever.

The band plow through the entire album of Demanufacture with only occasional pauses for breath & banter with the crowd. 20 years on & the album seems as relevant as ever…man against machine, Fear Factory’s inspirations are easy to follow but it’s exciting to see the modern stuff continue this trend. Demanufacture started it all but the band continue to evolve while staying true to their roots.

The highlights of the Demanufacture set being the immense sounding Zero Signal & A Therapy for Pain. The cover of Head of David’s Dog Day Sunrise falls a little flat for me personally but I’ve never been a fan of the song really.

The Demanufacture set flies by…11 songs done, in what felt like a matter of minutes. It’s very disappointing to see so many people leave the venue straight afterwards. With another 6 songs to come its not long before the band are back on stage.

We’ve had our nostalgic celebration so I expected the band to fill out the rest of the set with mostly new stuff. It comes as a surprise when both Shock & Edgecrusher are played! A good surprise, mind you as these songs are staples of a Fear Factory set & they never get boring.

The band finally focus on their latest album with the next 3 songs all coming from it. Each sounds like they belong with Soul Hacker sounding particularly epic before the band finish up with a rousing rendition of the classic off their first album, Martyr.

Fear Factory were on form tonight, no sound issues, good back & forth with the crowd & the band seem more united then ever. I can’t wait to see them again with even more new music on show!

Full set list:

Demanufacture
Self Bias Resistor
Zero Signal
Replica
New Breed
Dog Day Sunrise (Head of David Cover)
Body Hammer
Flashpoint
H-K (Hunter Killer)
Pisschrist
A Therapy for Pain

Encore:
Shock
Edgecrusher
Soul Hacker
Dielectric
Regenerate
Martyr