''Genexus'' is the ninth studio album by American

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of Heavy metal music, heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating Heavy metal guitar, metal guitar riffs, sampling (music), sampling, synthesizer or music sequencer, sequencer lines, and Distor ...

band

Fear Factory Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial met ...

, released on August 7, 2015. It is the third Fear Factory album since guitarist

Dino Cazares Dino Cazares (born September 2, 1966) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist and one of the co-founders of industrial metal band Fear Factory. He is also a co-founder of Divine Heresy, Asesino, and Brujeria (band), Brujeria. Cazar ...

rejoined the band in 2009, their first album to feature drummer Mike Heller, and the final album they released with vocalist Burton C. Bell before his departure from the band in 2020, although his vocals appear on the band's next album, ''

Aggression Continuum ''Aggression Continuum'' is the tenth studio album by American industrial metal band Fear Factory, released on June 18, 2021. An instrumental version titled ''Aggression Continuum: The Instrumentals'' was released on September 17, 2021. A remixed ...

'', which was initially recorded in 2017 but not released until four years later. ''Genexus'' is also Fear Factory's first release through

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

. Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from critics. A lyric video for the song "Soul Hacker" was released on June 17. A lyric video for the song "Protomech" was released on July 11. A full music video for the song "Dielectric" was released on August 7, the same day as the album release, and a music video for "Expiration Date" was released on April 12, 2016.

Sound and production

Regarding the drums on ''Genexus'', Burton C. Bell stated: "...This time we are gonna use a live drummer, we're gonna use Mike Heller to record a few of the songs, not all of them, but a few to get that live feel, because some of these songs require a live feel, and so we're gonna go with that." Like its predecessor '' The Industrialist'' and '' Demanufacture'', ''Genexus'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

. The themes in the album include war, climate change, religion, and mortality.

Reception

''Genexus'' received a positive response by critics, praising the album for its brutal and abrasive sound. Ray Van Horn Jr. of

Blabbermouth.net ''Blabbermouth.net'' is a website dedicated to metal and rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. It is run by the website's founder Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001. In October 2001, the rec ...

said that "the key and industrial supplements gives ''Genexus'' a busier and heartier personality, lighting up the album's prospectus of mankind transitioning toward a more mechanized state of being." Trey Spencer of Sputnikmusic surmised that "this album is more melodic and accessible,

and Burton C. Bell prove that they still have what it takes to make a visceral Fear Factory album." James Christopher Monger of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

commented that "more melody-driven than prior outings, ''Genexus'' nevertheless retains the band's penchant for pairing bleak science fiction imagery with piston-like, palm-muted guitar

riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

s and explosive percussion."

Touring

Between the end of August and the middle of September in 2015, the ensemble had toured the Southern,

Midwestern The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

, and

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

along with

Once Human Once Human may refer to: * ''Once Human'' (video game), a 2024 post-apocalyptic survival game * Once Human (band), a heavy-metal band founded in 2014 {{Disambiguation ...

, Los Angeles metal band

Before the Mourning Before the Mourning (also initialized as B4TM) was an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles. They released two EPs, ''Remembrance'' and ''Damned and Forsaken'', and published the full-length album ''Etherial End'' in August 2015. In Novem ...

, and Chicago rock/metal band The Bloodline.

Track listing

Personnel

* Burton C. Bell – vocals *

– guitars, bass * Mike Heller – drums (1–3, 5–9) Additional personnel * Fear Factory – production *

Drew Fulk Drew Fulk (born May 1, 1987), also known as WZRD BLD, is an American producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. He has worked with artists such as Lil Wayne, Knocked Loose, Lil Peep, Disturbed, NLE Choppa, A Day To Remember, M ...

– vocal production * Mike Plotnikoff – drum engineering * Matt Jefferson – Castronovo's drum engineering & editing *

Andy Sneap Andy Sneap (born 18 July 1969) is an English guitarist, record producer, and composer with over 100 albums to his name, most of which have been produced at his Backstage Recording studios in rural Derbyshire. Some of the most critically acclaim ...

– mixing, mastering * Anthony Clarkson – artwork, layout * Geoff Bisente – additional vocal recording & editing *

Rhys Fulber Nowell Rhys Fulber (born October 10, 1970) is a Canadian electronic musician and producer. He is a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium, along with Bill Leeb. He also records under his own name and under the name Conjure One. Biograph ...

–

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

, keyboards (3, 4, 6, 8–12), co-production, manipulation, vocal recording * Damien Rainaud – additional keyboards & programming, engineering, editing, pre-production, pre-production mixing, vocals recording * Giuseppe "Dualized" Bassi – additional keyboards, sampling & programming * Laurent Tardy – piano (1 & 5) * Sam "Mister Sam" Shearon –

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

(1 & 10) *

Deen Castronovo Deen Joseph Castronovo (born August 17, 1964) is an American drummer and singer best known for being a member of classic rock band Journey and hard rock acts Bad English and Hardline. He currently plays drums and sings for the bands Journey, ...

– drums (4) *

Al Jourgensen Alain David Jourgensen (born Alejandro Ramírez Casas; October 9, 1958) is a Cuban-American singer, musician and music producer. Closely related with the independent record label Wax Trax! Records, his musical career spans four decades. He is t ...

– remix (11)

Charts

References

{{Authority control Fear Factory albums 2015 albums 2010s concept albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Rhys Fulber