Can you remember where you were when Digimortal was first played? I sure as hell can’t. You want to know why? Because my brain has done everything in its power to forget any association with that horrible piece of plastic. I could have scored a three-way between myself, Chloe Vevrier, and that Anne Hathway chick in the middle of the album and I still wouldn’t remember it because of my brain’s defense mechanism to keep itself from sheer implosion. Digimortal was the musical equivalent of a retard discovering his mother stuffing a Thanksgiving turkey and- in a great monkey-see, monkey-do fashion- proceed to hunt down the family dog, burrow both arms straight into its tight anus, and give the dog the world’s worst prostate-induced orgasm in history, all while screaming, "NNNNAAAAAARRRGGGG!!!" Digimortal is one of the single worst releases ever associated with metal, disassociating metal fans with Fear Factory and slamming the final nail down in the coffin of Roadrunner Records’ career as a serious metal label. Nu metal had won the attention of the masses and what was once a promising metal act stabbed the genre in the back.

Then Fear Factory understandably disappeared. Tensions in the band mounted, shit happened, I don’t really know but it was safe to say that for awhile it looked like Fear Factory was content with ending their short-lived saga on an utter downfall. Somehow the fates came together and Fear Factory re-emerged, with Byron Stroud from Strapping Young Lad on bass and Dino long-gone. Given the excellent choice of Byron (his work with Strapping Young Lad and Zimmer’s Hole was damn entertaining), a slight bulb of hope emerged. Thus was born Archetype, an album that for all intents and purposes was an attempt at Demanufacture Part 2: Electric Boogaloo. Did they succeed? Eh, not really. It definitely had the parts mirrored from what made Demanufacture awesome, but it fell flat; simply getting the parts right doesn’t guarantee that the whole will be dead on. Did it make up for Digimortal? As controversial as it sounds, I’ll say it somewhat did. Archetype was mediocre, but it had its moments and was a very big step in the right direction for the band. If they were to follow-up Archetype by making a return to their heavier Soul of a New Machine days with some City-era Strapping Young Lad influence they would have actually pulled off a pretty impressive comeback.

Instead we get Transgression. Remember the retard with his arms shoved up the dog’s ass? Imagine Helmet the Special Boy managing to lay himself on the ground, flip himself 180 degrees onto his back with his arms still occupying the rectal cavity of Sparky, pull himself under the dog, and begin to suck the dog off, mistaking his member for a bright red cherry popsicle. Yep, that’s the feeling Transgression leaves. Feel violated? I know I sure as hell did.

If Archetype was Demanufacture Part 2: Electric Boogaloo, then Transgression is Digimortal Part 2: Quest for the Glowing Sphincter of Pope Benedict’s Magical Anal Midget, the Crown Prince of Morocco. Does that sound epically idiotic for a title? Yes? Guess how aptly it describes this album? Supposedly this is some sort of emotional concept album. In actuality, it’s really shitty nu metal dragged out until nearly a whole hour with no real heaviness, despite what little good parts are in the opener and the shitty solo that appears at 3:11 in "New Promise". Songs like "Echoes of My Scream" just drag on and shit like "Empty Vision" reminds me of the failed tracks from Obsolete. The rest of the album just treads Digimortal material. It’s nearly as bad as Digimortal, but without the crappy rap segment. The rage is gone, the speed is gone; this album is just an excuse for Hot Topic kids to not feel entirely awkward when they go to feel up the indiscriminate little girl that accidentally got into the pit during a Fear Factory set. Transgression isn’t metal; it’s nothing but Burton C. Bell and Co. taking time out from writing good material so they can watch a retard turkey-stuff and blow a fucking dog.

Then there is the matter of the covers. What the Jesus Titty Fucking Christ is it with Fear Factory and cover songs? Ever since Obsolete it seems like every album must require a fucking cover song of sorts. Obsolete had the intolerable cover of "Cars" with a ridiculously useless guest appearance by Gary Numan, Archetype had a cover of Nirvana’s "No School", and Transgression has not one but two covers! First is the cover of U2’s "I Will Follow". This is useless. The song is so boring and lacking that you’d swear U2’s poppy original track is far superior. To make matters worse, Fear Factory was actually staying faithful to the original! Then there’s the cover of Killing Joke’s "Millennium". I unfortunately have not heard the original Killing Joke song, so I can’t really compare it. It doesn’t sound as horrible as some of the other parts of this album, but it’s still lacking. What I don’t understand is this necessity to throw covers on every god damn release they do nowadays. Is it because their new music is such shit they need something written by good bands to fill in the void? No no, can’t be that: Nirvana et al fucking sucks…

Transgression does one thing right: it’s a fucking transgression to metal fans and Fear Factory fans everywhere. What makes this sadder is Fear Factory demonstrated on their last album that they still had some ability left; now they’re purposely releasing shit when they knowingly can do better. It’s not like Metallica where they’re so far gone that they can’t retain the ability to make good music and just continue to go on like an ancient Alzheimer’s patient. God damn, fuck this shit.

Written By: Necro-tron