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***1/2 Fear Factory

DIGIMORTAL

(Roadrunner)

It’s about time new metal reverted to hoky sci-fi concept-album territory, and it’s hard to imagine a band better qualified for the task than this decade-old SoCal post-thrash combo. On Fear Factory’s fourth full-length, frontman Burton C. Bell sings the man-versus-machine blues with savage glee — like a cross between Thom Yorke and the T-1000. His bandmates groove like Pantera on a new-wave kick, ranging from hyperkinetic power-drill rhythms to spectral pop choruses in the space of a single song.

Bell is more punk-rocker than actual singer, but the spooky melodicism he brings to the title track and “Linchpin” gives the disc its two strongest hooks. And the group’s ongoing collaboration with producer Rhys Fulber (Front Line Assembly, Delerium) is one of the most fruitful cross-genre unions in metal: Fulber’s subtle keyboard accents and icy production style only add to the brutality of the band’s rigid beats. Digimortal does make a few concessions to the status quo, including a thuggish duet between Bell and Cypress Hill’s B-Real that strays a little too far from the concept. But in most respects, Fear Factory are miles ahead of the pack: well versed in metal’s past and eager to define its future.

— Sean Richardson