-by JJ Ulizio
Photos by: Jason L Nelson

On 04/12/16 Fear Factory came through Pittsburgh’s Altar Bar on tour with Swedish label mates Soilwork in celebration of the fan favorite album “Demanufacture” turning 20 years old. Joining them on the tour as opening acts were Martyrd from New York City and Spades & Blades from Los Angeles California.

Starting off the evening the line for entry stretched the length of the block as the Altar Bar opened its doors for a sold out evening of metal music. Martyrd and Spades & Blades had a few fans sprinkled through the crowd but it was obvious who the majority of the crowd was there to see.
Martyrd was up first and played a tight but solid set, followed quickly by the LA metal-core quintet Spades & Blades whose vocalist was honest about having issues with his voice but that didn’t stop them from powering through their set and visibly winning over some fans in the process. After the conclusion of their set their merch booth promptly appeared to be bombarded with concert goers picking up shirts and CDs.

Björn “Speed” Strid of Soilwork

Next in the lineup came the “Swedish melodic death metal” powerhouse known as Soilwork, led by founding member and lead vocalist Björn Strid. They began their set with the title track from their newest album “The Ride Majestic” and flowed right into fan favorites like “Nerve”, “Let This River Flow” & “Bastard Chain” amongst other songs spanning their 18 year career. Through the course of their set they relentlessly pummeled the crowd, as the crowd erupted and pummeled each other, with song after song. You could see the intensity they were giving through the sweat that seemed to consistently pouring off of them. They gave it their all, and the crowd gave it right back. They closed their set with the title track from their 2005 album “Stabbing the Drama”. The band tore their way through the thrashy grooves of the song as the crowd sang the chorus loud enough that you could not hear Björn belting out the lyrics. Once the song finished it was almost an eerie silence for a second or two before the house music came on. Björn promised that they would be back this fall, I recommend anyone who missed them to keep an eye out for that date.

Tony Campos of Fear Factory

To close out the night Fear Factory took the stage and in celebration of their sophomore album, Demanufacture, turning 20 years old they started their set with the title track and played every song as it appears in order from the album including the 1995 single “Replica” which from my perspective was the peak of the performance, after that it seemed that the majority of the crowd started losing their energy, I felt it too. The fans didn’t appear to have the same kind of engagement or participation like they did for replica until they completed the “Demanufacture” set and came back for the encore. This had included other fan favorites such as “Archetype” & “Soul Hacker”. I saw some of their energy spark back up during their performance of “Edgecrusher” when a few of the members from Spades & Blades came out to do backup vocals on it which had gotten the crowd singing along and amping them back up for their closeout with the 1992 song “Martyr.”

Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory

Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares of Fear Factory have done well over the years; the fact that Demanufacture is as popular as it is to this day is a testament to that. They played a solid set, not a technical or musical fault that I could see and still a lot of fun but in this fans opinion Soilwork stole the show that night with an energy and intensity that could not be matched.

This tour runs through May 7th where they’ll finish up in Los Angeles. Fear Factory will begin touring internationally beginning in June and they will be out on the road until the end of the year. Soilwork will embark on their own tour of Europe and Asia that will carry them through until mid-August. Spades & Blades and Martyrd wrap up with the end of this tour with nothing currently announced as of press time but I’m sure neither band will sit still for long.

Dino Cazares of Fear Factory

Overall if you have an opportunity to attend one of the dates on this tour then I recommend you do, it was a great time with some great performances.

Soilwork

Burton C Bell-Fear Factory

This set was shot one night before the Pittsburgh Date

A pro shot Fear Factory show from Resurrection Fest 2015 (Viveiro, Spain)
Much better quality that the fan shot video above, but this one has a completely different set list.

About Author

JJ Ulizio

JJ has been a contributing writer and huge asset to Empire and Empire Extreme since the very begining. He is always digging for new bands and has a true heart and desire to see the bands grow and succeed.

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