Roadrunner Records: 1997
Nah, fuck it! I get to invoke a reissue loophole here, in that all the remix material was bundled on a second CD of the
Demanufacture package (plus a couple extra tagged on the end of CD1). Thus,
Remanufacture is technically labeled as CD2 of its parent album in my media player list. Since it was initially an entirely different release though, I’ll talk about it separately.
Story goes Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb were commissioned to do remixes of material from Fear Factory’s first album,
Soul Of A New Machine, which led to Fulber becoming the band’s unofficial fifth member. Rather than making another EP length remix album, it was decided to give the full remix treatment to
Demanufacture, each song having a re-rub to itself. Fulber was tasked with the bulk of the work, but several other tunes were sent to other producers, giving some much needed variety to the project.
I know what you're thinking. Remix albums suck, for the simple fact there's no cohesion or communication among the various remixers. Agreed, which is why having only four keeps things musically tight and flowing from track to track. They aimed to make
Remanufacture just as solid of a standalone album as the parent one, and though it's not quite as good, it's still a fun ride.
Unsurprisingly, Fulber takes his remixes fully down the industrial road. Though he throws a couple surprises here and there -
Zero Signal is turned into a bass-sludge EBM work titled
Faithless - his work mostly retains the originals' pace and attributes. It's as though he's now the main attraction with Fear Factory backing him rather than the other way around on
Demanufacture. The other remixer of note was Junkie XL, who provides two cuts for
Remanufacture, and a few additional ones that initially only appeared on the
Burn single but are included with the reissue as well. I've always felt he's best at block-rockin' big beats, and he's in as fine of form as ever here.
The show stealers, however, have to be Kingsize and DJ Dano. The latter goes full-on gabber with
T-1000, outclassing all the other gabber remixes that were done for
New Breed overseas (and yes, they're also included on the reissue). Kingsize's remix is utterly bonkers though! Titled
Cloning Technology, it brings all the best aspects of big beat while making brilliant use of Fear Factory's thrashier side. Just when you think this track can't get any more headbangin', he adds another layer of intense mosh, over and over again. Some out there might be miffed that
Replica's morbid theme (about a person born from rape) is essentially wiped away for the purpose of ravaging dance floors, but then that argument can be made for most of
Remanufacture.
It does make me wonder how many within the metal scene appreciated these remixes. They certainly enjoyed
Demanufacture enough to hail it a classic, but I don’t hear much mention of this one. Their loss, then.
