Fear Factory's fourth album, Digimortal, finds the hirsute Los Angeles industrial metallers happening on a theme that they've been alluding to throughout their 10 year existence; a concept album about the synthesis of man and machine, its 11 tracks showcase a mishmash of screaming electronics and punishingly low-end death metal dynamics. Guitarist Dino Cazares and drummer Raymond Herrera served tenure in the none-more-metal Satanic terrorist troupe Brujera shortly before the release of Digimortal, but such straight-ahead metal antics have not dulled Fear Factory's silicon edge. The scattershot riffage of "Damaged" is undercut by furious distorted synth-lines, and the hyper-tense "No One" showcases sirens stolen straight from the Chemical Brothers' box of old-school rave machinery. Meanwhile, while there's nothing quite as startling as "Obsolete"--a track from the 1999 album of the same name that featured vocals from synth pioneer Gary Numan--the beatbox-based "Back The Fuck Up", featuring Cypress Hill's B-Real, stands a good head and shoulders above the ham-fisted rap-rock fusion peddled by many of Fear Factory's peers.