As the opening riff of the first track "540,000 Degrees Fahrenheit" kicks in, I'm not too sure what to think. Then the verse begins and all I can think about are those horrible clean vocals. That has always been my qualm as Fear Factory progressed through the years - Burton's clean vocals worked so well on "Obsolete" and "Demanufacture" because he didn't over do them (although he could never pull it off live)! The track isn't too bad - I mean there are a few decent riffs to be had, and a rather cool sounding, albeit short breakdown. However due to the overuse of clean singing I hope against hope that this track isn't an indicator for the tone of the album.

The next track "Transgression" opens with up catchy extended introduction riff. But soon after I'm two minutes into the song and they haven't really progressed upon the single structure. Then comes the chorus - I hate your contention, I hate your violation, I hate your corruption, I hate your life destruction - simply put, but effective. Unfortunately the sporadic hints of potential are not capitalised upon.

After a few cycles of the album a pattern emerges - some tracks like "Transgression," "Millennium," "Moment of Impact" have a few catchy riffs that are a little outside of what Fear Factory has done traditionally - and that I can only assume is influence stemming from Christian's switchover from bass to guitars. However, most the time songs are let down by poor follow-up riffs - which just sound like a poor rehashing of old material - Burton tragic overuse of his clean vocals, straightforward, uninventive song structures and generic lyrical content.

On tracks like "Spinal Compression" it really feels as if the guys are having trouble getting out of second gear. The album hits its low points on the tracks "Empty Vision," "Echo of My Scream" and "New Promise." The vocals on "Empty Vision" are TERRIBLE. Just terrible. Devoid of any emotional power, they just sound weak. It's something you'd expect from Linkin Park for pisschrists sake!

Then we have the emo-ballad of "Echo of My Scream". When I first heard this song I began to cry - not out of emotion however, more out of boredom. Seven minutes? Seven BLOODY minutes of my life gone to this horribly melodramatic song.

On the track New Promise its clear Burton wasn't talking about promising good material on this album.

The only track that really retained my interest was "Moment of Impact". Its catchy opening riff is actually followed up by some cool choruses and breakdowns. The final song happens to be the heaviest on the album - and quite possibly the only one devoid of Burton's horrid clean vocals! It builds up momentum to a good metal-groove, but for me this is too little too late.

This album is another step backwards. The vocal patterns feel tired, the clean passages ridiculously overused, the guitars have some good riffs scattered throughout, but most the time they're just rehashing Dino's old riffs - as another reviewer put it, Christian can mimic Dino, but he has no technical flair. Not to mention they sound weak as piss - what happened to the production? And what happened to Raymond's snare on the first half of the album?

Archetype at least gave us some brutal tracks like "Cyberwaste" (it hag blasting in it man, blasting!), "Archetype" and "Corporate Cloning" - but on THIS album there are only one or two tracks that even resemble the Fear Factory of old. Their style used to be often copied but never matched - they were the originators of a powerful death metal come industrial metal style, with hints of melody and keyboards thrown in. Now they have becoming indistinguishable from the imitators - they have watered down their sound once more. Their new line-up has buckled under the pressure of following up a solid comeback album.

Burton C. Bell is quoted as saying "(the) New Fear Factory is going to surprise a lot of people." It sure surprised me - Fear Factory have failed me again after only just regaining my interest. This surely is a transgression from the powerful style that made this band what it was. My advice to the band; go grab Strapping Young Lad's album. Take notes. That is how you combine industrial metal with hints of death, thrash, melody and keyboards while still managing to come across as brutal. And to think I actually got excited for this release after reading the track listing.