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With the bad blood from Fear Factory's recent acrimonious split still boiling,the band's label Roadrunner has wisely elected to clean out the remainderof the group's musical closet, finally releasing the long lost-atleast that's what they're calling it-Fear Factory album Concrete.Recorded in mid-1991, with then-unknown metal d"ude Ross Robinson at theproduction controls, Concrete was to be the FF's debut LP as wellas the inaugural release for Robinson's proposed record label. But aftera falling out between band and producer, the parties cut a deal and went theirseparate ways. FF got to leave for Roadrunner, Robinson got to keep the band'smaster tapes.

A decade and one n"u metal revolution later, with resentment subsided andcash flow improved, Robinson willingly sold those tapes to Roadrunner. Listeningto it today, Concrete stands essentially as a demo for the band'sproper debut, Soul of a New Machine (produced a year later by NapalmDeath and Carcass knob-twiddler Colin Richardson). A number of Soul's bestsongs-"Crisis," "Self Immolation," "Big God/RapedSouls"-are present here in a primitive state, while a strong influencefrom Godflesh and Napalm Death permeates unsophisticated grinders like "Desecrate"and the title track.

It's still not quite as pedestrian as Robinson's production. Thoughno one would ever dispute his sense of "vibe," Robinson had absolutelyno idea how to record death metal or grindcore drums (it didn't help thatFF drummer Raymond Herrera sometimes knows just as little about playing themhere). But while Concrete doesn't showcase the airtight groove machinethat eventually released electro metal juggernauts like Demanufactureand Obsolete, it provides good sport for those who would like to spotthe riffs that eventually made their way onto later Fear Factory records. Andthat, in the very least, makes for an intriguing historical death metal document.