A cover in the middle of an album?! Yeah, that's what California's Fear Factory did on their sophomore album 'Demanufacture' in 1995; putting a cover of Head Of David track 'Dog Day Sunrise' right in the middle!

First, the song was clearly different to the album's stuff; much more laid-back between robotic termination. Back in the day I did not know who Head Of David was, but I had bought Godflesh's 'Selfless' a year earlier, and 'Dog Day...' and that album did feel rather similar... Later I learned that Godflesh's Justin Broadrick (vocals, guitar, programming) playd drums in Head Of David. I had noticed the Godflesh influence in FF's sound already earlier, on their debut album from 1992, 'Soul of a New Machine'. So, the song wasn't a bad choice for a single.

The title track contains hypnotic, droning guitars, heavy slapping bass, driving drumming and airy, Burton C. Bell's unique voice; and a chorus to holler to like no tommorrow! The cover is quite faithful to the original, even though it has even more industrial, mechanical vibe to it. And with considerably tighter drumming! The edited version is considerably shorter, leaving out for example the double kick drum part, and it cuts in and out a bit later in the song, and way before the original ends. The edit is otiose. By the way, there's also a "radio edit" of the song, 3:22 long...

The mix of 'Replica' is a dryer and less powerful version. The guitar have been moved behind and the vocals are effected with distortion. The bass and the drums are now even more audible. It has a colder, and again, mechanical, vibe to it compared to the album version. 'Concreto' is a modernized version of old song 'Concrete', where the band was more death metal/grindcore sounding. The new version still kicks ass, with its meaty, grinding guitar tone, semi-growled vocalization and way better drumming. It's easily the heaviest song here.

I never bought the single back in the day, even though I was collecting extra/unreleased songs from bands. I think this single simply never crossed my way. Anyway, previously unreleased material here isn't too hot, except for 'Concreto', so this one is strictly for collectors. The cover art is cool, by the way!

Rating: 5 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/31/2021 22:10