mankind review from anemic magazine:

What can I say about this band, this CD? Well I can start off by saying it is by far the best, most brutal, melodic, deep and meaningful debut CD from a new band I’ve heard in a long time. Factory 81 are a four piece multi-dimentional metal band from Detroit Michigan. They’re political, poetic, opinionated and not afraid to make their own style of music. If I was to use other bands to describe F81’s sound, I’d say throw Deftones, Tool, Rage against the machine and System of a down in a blender, and F81 would be the result. It would’ve been easy for these guys to sign a record deal, make some radio friendly singles, some nice MTV video’s, become an over night success, sit back and collect the cash, much like a lot of today’s so called metal bands. But no, much the opposite. 'Mankind' is a hard hitting CD. A mix of heavy riffs and melodic, almost hypnotic tunes. The vocal ability of front man Nathan Wallace stands out more than anything on this CD, there is also some awesome drumming, but it’s almost as if the music takes a back seat to this man’s incredible vocals. He has one of the most diverse voices I have heard, right up there with Mike Patton when it comes to diversity in my opinion. He has a fearsome roar, a beautiful singing voice, often with middle eastern melody to it. He can also break into some hard core rapping, well it’s more screaming with a kind of rap style to it. He is hard to understand most of the time, and it’s impossible to find lyrics to their songs (except for the couple that are in the booklet), but I think that adds to the overall experience of listening to his vocals. It is truly an awesome voice, one of the best I’ve ever heard. ‘Mankind’ starts off with the first and only single that was released from this CD, “Nanu”. A good choice for a single, because “Nanu” pretty much is a preview of what you will hear on ‘Mankind’, as different that each track is from each other, “Nanu” has a little bit of all of them thrown in. It’s also a good opening kick in the head to get you ready for the second track “Peace Officer”. If there’s a standout track on this CD, then “Peace Officer” is it. The track starts of saying “Here’s a little message about the fucking pigs.” Trust me, they aren’t talking about farm animals. It’s a song from Nate Wallace’s personal experience with police brutality. It’s a hard and heavy track with a lot of emotion, my favorite on the CD. There’s also a story about the event that inspired “Peace Officer” inside the CD booklet, along with some other writings, poems, and lyrics. Don’t get me wrong though, ‘Mankind’ isn’t all aggression, and the mellow, more melodious parts are just as significant and awesome as the overall aggression, and give the CD a great balance. ‘Rotten Strawberries’, the fourth and most mellow track, has an awesome hypnotic, tribal drum beat with some soothing vocals, a very cool track. ”3 o’ clock love letter” is another song with a great melodious flow to it, yet still heavy. Other stand out tracks are “Ephedrine”, “Diary of a serial killer”, “Cheese Wheel” and the hidden track which is number 81 on the CD. Overall I love this CD from start to finish, well structured songs, great vocals, awesome drumming and cool down tuned riffs. Factory 81 are currently working on their follow up to ‘Mankind’, I for one, can’t fucking wait for that.

-Lee Farugia

anemicmagazine.com