Live Review: Fear Factory, Circles, Truth Corroded

Fear Factory put on a hell of a show at HQ. 

Making sure to dig through material both new and old the veteran extreme metal band gave the venue a sonic beating. With opening duties from Truth Corroded and a national support from Circles there was plenty of heavy sounds and fun to be had.

Circles make for a fitting tour support for Fear Factory and are certainly a band worth keeping an eye out for. There is a heavy dose of influence from the early sound of Periphery, yet without that burning necessity to be the fastest, most technical and progressive band. Let's say Circles are more down to earth. Vocally, frontman Perry Kakridas sounds like Fergus Linacre from Kingswood, but with more screaming. With creative, heavy and impactful songs up their sleeve expect more good things from Circles.

It became apparent that Dino Cazares had injured himself the day before the show, as he performed the entirety of the Fear Factory show sitting down, though this didn't stop it from being a good time, as Burton C Bell's stage presence more than made up for it. As an iconic band you really have to see and experience the performance to understand what Fear Factory are all about. Vicious and relentless down-tuned guitar tones, mechanical blast beats and breakdowns are the foundation for Bell's empowering roars and soaring anthems. Each song is designed to pummel you in a new and different way.

Tracks Soul Hacker, Anodized and Regenerate showed that the new songs from Genexus not only holds up well, but really stands out from their past material. Singalongs were a running theme for the night as a rowdy mosh pit opened up, prompted by the chaos-inducing intro to Shock. Fans were treated to songs from Demanufacture, Obsolete and even Soul Of A New Machine in a rollicking and blood-pumping ride through the history of Fear Factory. The pipes on Bell are fucking unbelievable, and if you've never seen Fear Factory before you will be delighted at just how dirty the chug of an eight-string guitar can sound. Unfortunately, there was no opportunity for the crowd to spur an encore, with the house lights and music coming into effect before you could yell "One more song!"