Fear Factory Crushes The Rave

It was a cold and eerie Thursday night in Milwaukee. The fog was rolling in as the rain came down. But industrial-metal pioneers, Fear Factory were in town to support their new album, Industrialist. Openers, Kobra and The Lotus,won over the crowd over with Kobra Paige's powerful screams and their Maiden influenced duel guitar work. Hate Eternal followed up with a punishing set of some of the heaviest death metal to pound your ear drums. 

By the time Fear Factory took the stage, the crowd was full and warmed up. As soon as Dino Cazares struck a chord on his 8 string Ibanez, and Burton C. Bell screamed out, “Are you ready to do this?!?!” The pits opened up and the show was in full gear. Along with (former Chimera guitarist and 6 Feet Under bassist,) Matt DeVries, and drummer, Mike Heller; Fear Factory crushed through a set filled with their A.I. inspired metal. The crowd was singing along with all of their songs. The Rave halls echoed with chants of “I’ve got no more, god damned regrets” and “Can't take me apart! No you can't! We see no end to the dream!”

Half way through the set, Burton boasted at the crowd, “Last time Fear Factory came through The Rave was around last year with a little band called Shadows Fall. Did anyone come out to that show?” A good handful of fans cheered out with excitement. However *Editor's note* That tour did not actually come through Milwaukee. The last time Fear Factory was at The Rave was in May of 2011 with Prong. But it was still funny enough to get a laugh from a few fans. “We've been coming through Milwaukee for sometime. First time we were here was back around '94 with a little band called Sepultura on their Chaos A.D. tour with Fudge Tunnel, Clutch, and Fear Factory. One of my all time favorite tours.”

Fear Factory left the crowd chanting, “I don’t want to live that way, I don’t want to live that way” as they closed with Replica off of their breakthrough album, Demanufacture. But honestly the crowd might as well have been screaming “I don’t want to go home yet!”The crowd was in a complete uproar of excitement at the end of their set. The show even went so good that Dino came down to the floor immediately after the set to meet with fans for pictures and autographs.

Fear Factory's Set List
Industrialist
Shock
Edge Crusher
What Will Become
Linchpin
Powershifter
Fear Campaign
Recharger
Resurrection
Martyr
Leechmaster
Scumgrief
Demanufacture
Self Bias Resistor
Zero Signal
Replica

-Alex Stafford