Song of the Day: Fear Factory, “Scumgrief,” from Soul of a New Machine (Roadrunner, 1992)

Given the bouts of inter-band drama and a misstep or two along the way, I'm not sure if Fear Factory still gets the credit they deserve for how unique and ahead of their time they were during the early-'90s. Soul of a New Machine's creative blend of industrial-tinged death metal must have been among the first albums to effectively and prominently split between beautiful singing and viciously guttural snarls (a practice that's since become commonplace); and Dino Cazares' atypically melodic riffing and quirky chord phrasings still hold weight today.

I don't remember how I discovered Fear Factory, it may have been the Roadrunner brand alone, but when I was 15 in '92, Soul of a New Machine was a game-changing favorite for me, and a lot of that had to do with the unexpectedly memorable songwriting of tracks like "Martyr," "Scapegoat," and especially "Scumgrief." Those big, melodic chords during the intro/chorus immediately struck a major nerve, and still hit me hard even to this day—bolstered by one of Burton C. Bell's finest vocal performances... not to mention just the right dash of grinding picking patterns, Godflesh-esque harmonics, and that amazing distorted bass tone.

Some listeners may require an occasional reminder, but I'm still holding onto a major soft spot for Soul of a New Machine (and Fear Factory in general).