Fear Factory "Cars (Single & Video)"

"Cars" is the first solo single by the English musician Gary Numan. It was released on 24 August 1979 and is from his debut studio album The Pleasure Principle. The song reached the top of the charts in several countries, and is Numan's most successful single.

Fear Factory, an American industrial metal band, recorded a version of "Cars" and released it as the second single from their album Obsolete. The song was only included as a bonus track on the limited edition digipak re-release of Obsolete and would be instrumental in breaking Fear Factory into the mainstream. In their rendition, Gary Numan performs a duet with frontman Burton C. Bell.

According to Bell, around 1996, the band started performing "Cars" as an encore at European concerts. Word spread that Fear Factory was performing the song, and as a result, Gary Numan's manager contacted them. Upon request, Numan's management flew him out to the Vancouver studio for a three-day span to record vocals on "Cars." The band also asked Numan to record a spoken word piece for the introduction of the song Obsolete.

Numan had a long-standing dislike for being associated with what he perceived as dated music, and this initially made him apprehensive of working with Fear Factory until realizing "there was a chance that it could introduce me to a new generation of people who didn't know my history. And that can be useful, because my music's got a lot heavier and darker anyway." The result would be satisfactory for both parties, and Numan praised the band as "brilliant, really easy to work with. They didn't have a bad word to say about anyone."

The uncharacteristically bouncy and bright rendition somewhat contrasts with Fear Factory's reputation for intense, grinding metal, while the heavy use of synthesizer and other electronic elements corresponds with the band's industrial style. Drummer Raymond Herrera described the cover as "basically like a blueprint of a futuristic car." He added that, while other songs were considered, the band chose "Cars" because all the band members knew and appreciated it and because the keyboards suited Fear Factory's sound. Herrera later noted that the group initially wanted to record U2's "New Year's Day" but chose "Cars" because they were fortunate enough to have Numan participate. Fear Factory later covered the U2 song "I Will Follow," in 2005.

"Cars" played a significant part in Obsolete's status as Fear Factory's highest-selling album. By 2001, it had sold over 750,000 copies. According to Herrera, the cover received greater enthusiasm in the UK than in the band's native US, which was validated by its chart status. During the song's promotion, Gary Numan joined the band for a concert performance in Brixton, London to much enthusiasm.

After the radio trade publication R&R listed "Cars" as the most added track on both active rock and mainstream rock in May 1999, the song earned "Breaker" status and continued to surge up the chart. "Cars" debuted and peaked at number 57 in the UK Singles Chart on 9 October.

It peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and No. 38 on Modern Rock Tracks.

The song was featured as the main theme for Test Drive 6, a video game released in 1999 for the PlayStation and Dreamcast consoles.

Numan also appears in the sci-fi music video, directed by John S. Bartley and filmed in Vancouver, which debuted in June 1999. Bell enthusiastically described the ambitious video as having a "Stanley Kubrick-type of vibe to it":

[Bartley] put Gary and me into harnesses and we had to simulate floating in space. We were floating around this junked out '79 Trans Am that he had as this car in space, and we're coming up to it. They had another '70 Trans Am that was turned into a spaceship, and that's what we're driving in. It was just wicked. It was unbelievable. It was like a dream come true.

According to Bell, at one point during the shoot, Numan remarked, "Odd; the song is about cars – why are we in space?"

Track listing

1. "Cars" (remix) – 3:39
2. "Descent" (Falling Deeper Mix) – 4:38
3. "Edgecrusher" (Urban Assault Mix) – 4:33

The Kovenant "Animatronic (USA, Nuclear Blast America, 27361 64062)"

Animatronic is the third studio album by Norwegian metal band The Kovenant, released in 1999 through Nuclear Blast.

Track listing

1. "Mirrors Paradise" 5:01
2. "New World Order" 4:30
3. "Mannequin" 5:00
4. "Sindrom" 5:30
5. "Jihad" 5:58
6. "The Human Abstract" 4:55
7. "Prophecies of Fire" 4:38
8. "In the Name of the Future" 4:56
9. "Spaceman" (Babylon Zoo cover) 5:23
10. "The Birth of Tragedy" 5:16

Total length: 51:07

CD comes in a slipcase for its first edition. A silver sticker with black lettering

"... ex - Covenant (N) ..." and the rating of the album in three magazines was on the slipcase.

The first catalog number is printed on the slipcase and jewel case spines.

The second one is printed on the back cover (both slipcase and jewel case) and the disc front.

This was the beginning of the group taking an electronica approach towards their metal music.

All music and lyrics by The Kovenant, except "Spaceman" by Babylon Zoo.

Issued as a limited edition Pic-LP (Nuclear Blast Picture Disc Series).

Track 1 samples the 1966 American film, Evil Brain From Outer Space.

Track 4 samples the trailer for the 1967 American film, A Taste of Flesh.

Track 8 samples the 1965 American film, Bad Girls go to Hell.

Recording information:

Recorded at Woodhouse Studios.

Matthias Klinkmann – engineering

Siggi Bemm – producer

Per Heimly – photography

Ad Inferna "There Is No Cure (USA, Nilaihah Records, NR049)"

In 2011, Ad Inferna released the album There Is No Cure, an album which occasionally returned to their Black Metal roots. The album features Kari Berg (formerly of Ashbury Heights) and Zombie Girl.

Tracklist:

1. The Presence 01:07  
2. Angelik 04:59  
3. Seventh Heaven 04:15  
4. Under My Skin 04:46  
5. French Kiss of Death 04:13  
6. Stigma 05:36  
7. Sex Spell 05:27  
8. Resurrection 05:01  
9. The One 05:17  

Time:    40:41

Plus remixes by: Reaper, Alien Vampire, Acylum, Chaos All Stars, Inline Sex Terror, End the DJ, Terrolokaust, Erotic Elk, r@zorbla.de and Electrovolt.

Ad Inferna "DSM (USA, Nilaihah Records, NR46)"

In 2010, Ad Inferna signed a three-album contract with the American label Nilaihah Records. The album DSM was released, co-produced and mastered by Vasi Vallis (Frozen Plasma, Reaper, NamNamBulu).

Tracklist:

1. Prémices 01:25  
2. Omniscience 04:03  
3. Der Ball der Verdammten 05:36  
4. The Second Half of the Sky 06:07  
5. The Other Side of Me 05:18  
6. Crime Body 04:58  
7. Celeste 05:19  
8. Dimension Zero 01:07  
9. Verklärte 03:39  
10. Coma (La fin des rêves) 05:31  
11. Crime Body (Suicidal Romance remix) 04:06  
12. Verklärte (Cellmod remix) 06:38  
13. Omniscience (by Psy Coma / The Kovenant) 04:45  

Time:   58:32  

Recording information:

Mixed and mastered at MagMorMusic Studio, Frankfurt.

...And Oceans "Cypher (Russia, Mystic Empire, MYST CD 059)"

Cypher is the fourth album by industrial black metal band ...And Oceans, and the last to be released under this moniker before the band's name was changed into Havoc Unit. The original name of the album was set to be Insect Angels and Devil Worms, but was changed.

Tracklisting:

1. "Fragile: Pictures of Silence: Melting the Skies" — (2:46)
2. "Picturesque: Cataclysm Saviour: And the Little Things That Make Us Smile" — (3:25)
3. "Angelina: Chthonian Earth: Her Face Forms Worms" — (3:52)
4. "Halcyon: The Heavy Silence: In Silent Rain" — (3:46)
5. "Aphelion: Light Evanescence: Into Extinction" — (3:28)
6. "Opaque: The Morning I Woke Up Dead: Today Is the Day" — (3:08)
7. "Aphid: Devil Flower: Fruits of Lunacy" — (3:32)
8. "Voyage: Lost Between Horizons: Eaten by the Distance" — (4:17)
9. "Catharsis: End of Organisms: Absolute Purification of Sins" — (2:31)
10. "Silhouette: In White Rooms: Vacant Bodies" — (3:48)
11. "Comatose: The World Amnesia: Planet Dead" — (2:58)
12. "Debris: The Magenta Harvest: Liquid Flesh" — (4:19)
13. "Nail: An Odyssey in Flesh: Celebrate the New Skin" — (5:17)

Time:   47:07

Co-operation credits for track 8 to Miqlo, and to Valopinja for frequency contribution on track 9.

Recording information:

Recorded at Abyss-B Studio. 

Mastered at DMS, Marl, Germany.

...And Oceans "The Symmetry of I - The Circle of O (2CD Limited Edition Digipak, France, Season Of Mist, SOM 016)"

The Symmetry of I - The Circle of O is the second album by Finnish Symphonic Black Metal band ...And Oceans, released October 1st, 1999.

Tracklist:

Disc 1 - I

1. Mechanic Hippie 06:21
2. Aquarium of Children - Ajatusten merenpinta 04:39  
3. The Black Vagabond and the Swan of Two Heads 05:17   
4. Sålipsism 05:11
5. Baby Blue Doll - Merry Go Mind 04:25
6. Äcid Sex and Marble Teeth (You-phoria) 04:52
7. I Wish I Was Pregnant 05:29
8. Stained 04:35  

Time:  40:49  

Disc 2 - O

1. Injected with Silence 06:29  
2. Cacophonous Ballet 04:15  
3. Higher Levels of Microbotic Fields 05:00  
4. Playground 01:41  
5. Mental Traffic 03:05  
6. Molecules 06:38  
7. Spasms 03:54
8. Chess 01:35

Time:   32:37  

Comes in an 8-panel digipak with an 8-page booklet. The second bonus CD consists of instrumental ambient/industrial songs.

Track 8 of first disc written and performed by Puissance.

Recording information:

Recorded and mixed at Tico Tico Studio, Kemi, Finland..

Produced by Season of Mist.

Mastered at Soundtemple Studio in California.