The Industrialist marks the band's return to the
concept album. According to Cazares, the title was taken from a documentary the band saw about the people who developed "the engines for war machines", and God Eater was a name Bell saw on a toybox while traveling. The album was recorded with Bell and Cazares as the only two credited members of the band, while Rhys Fulber once again produced and received additional writing credits. No live drummer was used on the album, with the band instead opting for
programmed drums with help from
John Sankey of
Devolved, who was also credited. The band's drummer at the time,
Gene Hoglan, wasn't informed of this decision and left the band after learning about the album's completion without him online.
Editions There are four different editions available: a regular jewel case with 10 tracks, a digi-book available in North America containing two bonus tracks and the album's concept as written by
Burton C. Bell included in the booklet. There are two editions exclusive in Europe; the first being a regular digipak with two bonus tracks, and the second being a limited fan box containing a stand-alone mask containing the digipak and a certificate, limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. The story is omitted from the European releases. However, once all 'special editions' are out of print, the band intends to make the conceptual story book on the North American 'special edition' release available in PDF format on the band's website. The Japanese edition comes with an acoustic version of "Timelessness" from
Obsolete, dubbed "Timelessness II".
Re-Industrialized On June 23, 2023, nearly 11 years after the release of
The Industrialist, the album was re-released as
Re-Industrialized with live drums done by then-drummer Mike Heller, a new mix done by Greg Reely, new guitar passages by Dino Cazares, and featuring five bonus tracks, including three covers: "Landfill" by
Pitchshifter, "Saturation" by Sonic Violence, and "Passing Complexion"
Big Black. ==Reception==