I have read about this band a little, and I have recieved quite a few recommendations to check them out. From what I have read, they appear to be an Industrialized, Aggro-Groove metal band, not unlike Pantera, early Machine Head and later-day Sepultura.

- But I am still not quite sure...are they any good? What label would be most fitting? Where should I start?

Depends on the album. I like Archetype.

Putting them alongside Pantera, Machine Head and Sepultura is pretty spot on. But unlike their peers they have that industrial edge to them.

It's not really my thing but the album Demanufacture from '95 is generally considered their classic and one of the defining albums of metal in the 90's

Here's a promo clip from the Demanufacture album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9DoqIKapb4

Cheers, mate

Demanufacture is a metal must have! That cd is killer. Digimortal imo is there best, the songwriting is far and beyond anything they did b4. PPL think they sold out on this cd but imo it was better then anything they did b4 or after it.

So FF is a good band i recommend starting with Demanufacture then trying Digimortal

my fav song from Demanufacture is this one

Demanufacture & Obsolete are pretty much the standard FF albums. albums like Digimortal through the last one are a touch more experimental but not far removed. Soul of a New Machine had a little more death metal vocally.

Demanufacture, Obsolete, and Soul of New Machine are the ones to check out.

I saw them tour on "Soul Of A New Machine"...

OBITUARY/FEAR FACTORY/AFTERMATH
Wednesday, May 12, 1993
Snookers
Raleigh, NC

Excellent band, but I haven't listened to them in years.

My first intro to FF was Soul Of A New Machine which was very awesome, very unique death metal and I really liked it (I will have to re-caputre it sometime). Sometime after that I saw FF open for Iron Maiden and when I heard the Demaufacture stuff I was blown away. The concert was awesome and shortly after I got Demanufacture and despite the lack of any guitar solos (Dino doesn't do those and normally those are my favorite aspect of metal) it was one of my favorite for years and I will have to re-caputre that as well. Reamanufacture (one that I do have) was, IMO, a neat remix of the Demanufacture stuff (at the time I was into some techno stuff). I remember Obsolete being pretty good although it failed in comparison to Demaufacture. After that I lost sight of FF although I did see them at the first Gigantour.

Yeah, the early stuff is like industrial death metal. They lightened their sound vocally a bit for the later albums, but Burton's vocals always remained heavy. And his singing voice is outstanding.

Like someone said, some albums have some songs on it a bit more experimental, like the song "Back The Fxck Up," which had a bit too much urban flavor, I think. But in general, you can't go wrong with this band. Very solid group.

Demanufacture is my favorite Fear Factory cd. A great disc from start to finish. Their other albums are good but didn't quite have the impact with me that Demanufacture had.

First heard Zero Signal from the Mortal Kombat movie (yes I did see it) and thought it was awesome. I decided to get their albums, starting with Soul of a New Machine. It was stinking heavy, nice death metal vibe, but mixed in Burton's clean vocals, which sounded great.

Demanufacture is my favorite album of theirs - I can play it start to finish. The songs are just wonderful. The addition of industrial sounds was great.

Heard some of the Obsolete album - need to give that a full listen first.

Archetype is a good album, more in the vein of Demanufacture. It's got some killer tracks on their too.

If I had to rate the albums, it would go something like this:

1-Demanufacture
2-Archetype
3-Soul of a New Machine
4-Obsolete
5-Transmission
6-Concrete
7-Digimortal

Overall Fear Factory is a great metal band. They don't play music that's technical. They are pretty straight up, but they play it very well (especially Raymond Herrera's drumwork, it's sick). Give them a try. Just my opinion.

I'm not a huge fan of the VOX

i've been jammin on Soul thru Archtype. all completely amazing albums. even most of Transgression was good, although it was disappointing as a whole. i wish these guys would tear into some new sh*t. they've proven that they don't need Dino.

Demanufacture is a metal must have! That cd is killer. Digimortal imo is there best, the songwriting is far and beyond anything they did b4. PPL think they sold out on this cd but imo it was better then anything they did b4 or after it.

So FF is a good band i recommend starting with Demanufacture then trying Digimortal (quote)

I have to agree with Metal Rob these are great albums from Fear Factory, unfortunetly I have not heard any of post Dino material, also Burton sang on Geezer Butler's solo project G/Z/R "Plastic Planet' which is very cool,

I just ordered a copy of Transgression. It reminds me of the first Klank album. I even like the slow experimental songs.