Editing Fear Factory (section)

===''Obsolete'' (1998–2000)===
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{{Main|Obsolete (album)}}
Fear Factory's third studio album, ''Obsolete'' (July 1998), was reportedly completed earlier than planned by canceling an appearance at the [[Dynamo Open Air Festival]].

''Obsolete'' was similar in sound to ''Demanufacture'', emphasizing [[progressive metal]] elements.<ref name="Obsrev">{{cite web |author= Prato, Greg |url= {{AllMusic|class=album|id=r366131|pure_url=yes}}
 |title= Obsolete Review |access-date= March 14, 2007 |publisher= AllMusic}}</ref> For the first time, the album featured Christian Olde Wolbers writing and recording full time with the band. It also featured Cazares' debut use of 7-string Ibanez guitars tuned to A tuning (A, D, G, C, F, A, D), and paved the way for a lower-tuned sound than previously. The album is also notable for Rhys Fulber's increased involvement with the band.

While Fear Factory had explored the theme of "Man versus Machine" in their earlier work, ''Obsolete'' was their first [[concept album]] that dealt specifically with a literal interpretation of this subject. It tells a story called ''Conception 5'', which was written by Bell, that takes place in a future world where mankind is rendered "obsolete" by machines. Its characters include the "[[Edgecrusher]]", "Smasher/Devourer", and the "Securitron" monitoring system. The story is presented in the lyrics booklet in a screenplay format between the individual songs. The printed story parts link the lyrics of the songs together thematically.

''Obsolete'' was released during the alternative metal boom of the late 1990s. It was supported by tours with [[Slayer]] and later [[Rammstein]], and a headlining spot on the second stage at Ozzfest in 1999 as last-minute replacements for [[Judas Priest]]. They also toured in Europe in December 1998 with [[Spineshank]] and [[Kilgore (band)|Kilgore]], and went on their first headlining tour in North America with [[Static-X]] the next year, though the first leg was interrupted due to the band's tour bus and material being stolen. They also played in Japan for the first time. ''Obsolete'' became the band's highest selling album, marking the band's first entry into the Top 100 on the Billboard charts. The album also spawned singles "[[Descent (song)|Descent]]" and a [[digipak]] bonus track, "[[Cars (song)|Cars]]", a cover of the [[Gary Numan]] song featuring a guest appearance by Numan on the song. The single made the Mainstream Rock Top 40 in 1999 and was also featured in the video game, [[Test Drive 6]]. Numan also performed a spoken-word sample on the album's title track. A video was filmed for the song "[[Resurrection (Fear Factory song)|Resurrection]]". To date, ''Obsolete'' remains the only Fear Factory album to have achieved gold sales in the U.S.