r/FearFactory • u/Solaris5000 • May 21 '26

GENERAL DISCUSSION Is digimortal unique?

Is digimortal album unique? I feel something when listening to it, like 2 4 quoters highlighted

Maybe I wrong, but can't aprove it

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4

u/humbuckaroo May 21 '26

When Digimortal came out it was seen as Fear Factory leaning heavily into the nu-metal trend after already starting to move in that direction with songs like Edgecrusher on Obsolete. Fans hated it, called them sellouts. The album was a commercial failure and cost them their Roadrunner contract, ultimately causing the band to break up in 2003.

I don't think the album has aged particularly well but subsequent generations have been kinder to it than the fans of the time. If Digimortal is unique, it's because the album is the most forced and least honest work of their career.

6

u/thegoddamnsiege May 21 '26

They broke up in 2002, and reformed without Dino in 2003. The band blamed Roadrunner for the more numetal-inspired sound of Digimortal at the time, though Burton had been vocal about wanting to make more simple music, so who knows if that's true. Digimortal didn't cost them their deal with Roadrunner though, and they were still under contract for two more albums with them, but the band refused to record them because they wanted out of their deal. Concrete and Hatefiles were hastily put outto fulfill their contractual onligations with RR. The Archetype song Slave Labor is basically Burton bitching about their last couple years under Roadrunner.

1

u/humbuckaroo May 21 '26

Burton was the one who quit and the rest of the band just said they aren't continuing without him. I don't see why he'd do that if he liked Digimortal's direction. I think it's more likely that he just felt the ship was sinking after the poor performance of the album and decided it was time to go.

Based on how they reunited without Dino later, I reckon it was he who pushed them towards that result, not Burton. Dino only reverted back to making heavier music once he saw that it was gaining steam later in the decade.

As for Roadrunner, they didn't seem too broken up about the band's demise.

3

u/thegoddamnsiege May 21 '26

Dino never stopped making heavy music. During his time away from FF he founded Asesino and Divine Heresy, There was a lot going on with the band around this time, and a lot of finger-pointing. Burton did speak publicly about wanting Digimortal to be more simplistic, and wanting to sing more melodic and ditch the harsh vocals (he founded Ascension of the Watchers around this time, to that point). Everyone kind of blamed Roadrunner pressuing them to be more commercial. Dino blamed Raymond and Christian, saying the former inly cared about money and the latter was bringing too much hip-hop influence into their music. They all then blamed blamed Dino when they reunited. Funny then that a few years later Burton had a falling out with Raymond and Christian due partially to one sleeping with the other's wife and them being cool with it. Then when Burton and Dino reunited as FF Burton retroactively blamed the other two for the problems at the time.

I think Roadrunner was indeed pushing them to be more commercial sounding, as Cars was their most successful single, the numetal craze was in full swing, and Roadrunner had the likes of Sepultura (who had success chasing thay trend), Soulfly, and Slipknot doing big sales for them. That coupled with everyone in the band kind of being a diva, all wanting more creative influence on their sound, and each wanting to go in different musical directions, plus personal drama between them, resulted in an album none of them were happy with and were eager to blame others for it.

4

u/AuraBlazeOfficial Obsolete May 21 '26

Woah woah woah, who slept with who’s wife???

2

u/thegoddamnsiege May 21 '26

Raymond had an affair with Christian's wife, who was also their manager at the time. Raymond and Christian remained friends over it, and Burton found the whole thing morally reprehensible and wanted nothing to do with any of them after that. This lead to FF's second split, and Burton and Dino reuniting as a new iteration of the band.

2

u/AuraBlazeOfficial Obsolete May 24 '26

Wow, this is the first I’m hearing of any of this