History YMMV / FearFactory

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: You know all those {{metalcore}} and groove metal bands that have one person doing aggressive and melodic vocals? You can either thank or blame Fear Factory for that.

* SignatureSong: "Replica", [[CoveredUp "Cars"]], "Linchpin", "Descent" and "Demanufacture"

* CriticalDissonance: ''Digimortal'' was fairly well received by critics, but it gets a lot of hate from fans for having a simpler and more radio-friendly sound compared to previous releases.

* CriticalDissonance: ''Digimortal'' was fairly well received by critics, but it gets a lot of hate from fans for having a simpler and more radio-friendly sound compared to subsequent releases.

* SignatureSong: "Replica", [[CoveredUp "Cars"]], "Linchpin", and "Demanufacture"

* CoveredUp: While not completely overshadowing the original, their cover of Gary Numan's "Cars" is usually the one that appears most in commercials and other media. Hell, it fittingly appeared as the intro to racing game VideoGame/TestDrive 6 and was even included on a CD soundtrack for the American release of ''VideoGame/GranTurismo'' 2 (though it does not appear in game). Perhaps subverted, considering Gary Numan does the vocals on the cover, but still. They've pretty much completely covered up "Dog Day Sunrise" (originally by Head of David) and "0~0" (originally by ''Wiseblood''), though.

* CoveredUp: While not completely overshadowing the original, their cover of Gary Numan's "Cars" is usually the one that appears most in commercials and other media. Hell, it fittingly appeared as the intro to racing game VideoGame/TestDrive 6 and was even included on a CD soundtrack for the American release of ''VideoGame/GranTurismo 2''! (though it does not appear in game). Perhaps subverted, considering Gary Numan does the vocals on the cover, but still. They've pretty much completely covered up "Dog Day Sunrise" (originally by Head of David) and "0~0" (originally by ''Wiseblood''), though.

* CoveredUp: While not completely overshadowing the original, their cover of Gary Numan's "Cars" is usually the one that appears most in commercials and other media. Hell, it fittingly appeared in two racing games: VideoGame/TestDrive 6 and the American release of ''VideoGame/GranTurismo 2''! Perhaps subverted, considering Gary Numan does the vocals on the cover, but still. They've pretty much completely covered up "Dog Day Sunrise" (originally by Head of David) and "0~0" (originally by ''Wiseblood''), though.

* ToughActToFollow: ''Demanufacture'' is hailed as the band's classic. Almost everything the band released afterward (especially ''Digimortal'') is more contested to varying degrees as a result.

* CreatorBacklash:
** The band (and their fans) have shown disdain for their 2005 album ''Transgression'', calling it 'rushed' and 'forced' due to heavy ExecutiveMeddling. Fans are mixed about it due to the poor production and rather mellow second half; they were especially critical that they included a cover of a Music/{{U2}} song on it. Guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers even had to walk out of the studio during recording multiple times because he was not happy with the way his guitar playing sounded. Vocalist Burton C. Bell, however, likes the album, and some fans have warmed up to it in more reccent times.
** These days, Burton doesn't like to talk about anything he did with the band from ''Mechanize'' onwards. When he does, he talks about how he mainly did it for the paycheck and that he found Fear Factory to be creatively limiting during that time.

* CreativeDifferences:
** One of the reasons why the classic lineup of the band broke up in 2002. Christian consistently pushed for more rap and hip-hop elements into the band's sound, but most of the time Dino didn't want to do this. One example of this is Christian having a hard time persuading Dino that it would be a cool idea to have the verses on "Edgecrusher" have more of a hip-hop feel, as well as using a double bass instead of a bass guitar on those parts.
** Burton had this with Dino after Dino returned to the band in 2009.
* DoingItForTheArt:
** According to Burton, one of the main reasons why he quit Fear Factory in 2020. He wanted to do music he actually loved creating, not just so he could get a reliable paycheck.
** Why Christian and Dino ended up having creative differences during the ''Obsolete'' and ''Digimortal'' eras. Christian wanted the band to experiment more with their music, adding more elements from hip-hop, while Dino wanted to stick to the IndustrialMetal sound the band was already known for.
* FanCommunityNickname: Machines of Hate.

* FollowTheLeader: It's been argued that the incorporation of rap and hip-hop elements in ''Obsolete'' and ''Digimortal'' was them trying to copy the popularity of NuMetal in the late '90s and early '00s. These elements completely went away from ''Archetype'' onwards, too, coinciding with nu-metal's decrease in popularity. That wasn't the case at all, though. Christian is a genuine fan of rap and hip-hop and wanted to include those elements as experimentation, but Dino was incredibly resistant to it in all but a few instances.

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Played straight for much of the band's career. Dino has played bass on many of the band's albums. Christian did this too, for the 2 albums where he was the band's guitarist.
** Averted with Tony Campos. By the time he joined the band, he was already very well-known from his time in Static-X, Soulfly and Ministry.
** Also averted with Byron Stroud, when he was a member. People already knew him from him being a member of Strapping Young Lad and Zimmer's Hole.