Obsolete

Writing and pre-production began at the end of 1997 and then stopped. Ozzy Osbourne had invited the band to open for the reunited Black Sabbath at two sold-out shows at the Birmingham NEC. They also headlined their own London date on 7 December, where early versions of "Edgecrusher" and "Smasher/Devourer" were played. The album proper was made between 21 February and 10 May 1998 in Vancouver with Rhys Fulber and Greg Reely. Recording ran four weeks over, which forced them to cancel an appearance at the Dynamo Festival. Guitarist Dino Cazares used a seven-string tuned down to A here for the first time, and bassist Christian Olde Wolbers moved to a five-string to match. Every keyboard part on the record was written, arranged and played by Fulber. The frame holding it together is "Conception 5", a story Burton C. Bell wrote in two weeks. It is set in 2076, in a world machines have taken over. Bell has named his sources: Ira Levin's The Boys from Brazil, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwell's 1984 and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Gary Numan speaks at the opening of "Obsolete". The running order here is the original's as printed.