Fear Factory

Fear Factory
Fear Factory performing at the DNA Lounge in 2013
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Industrial metal, groove metal, thrash metal, death metal, alternative metal
Years active	1989–2002, 2003–2006, 2009–present
Labels	Roadrunner, Candlelight
Associated acts	Brujeria, Asesino, Ascension of the Watchers, Arkaea, Zimmers Hole, Metallica, Strapping Young Lad, Divine Heresy, Threat Signal, Phobia, City of Fire, Chimaira, Six Feet Under, System Divide
Website	www.fearfactory.com
Members	Burton C. Bell Dino Cazares Matt DeVries Mike Heller
Past members	Andrew Shives Christian Olde Wolbers Raymond Herrera Byron Stroud Gene Hoglan

Fear Factory is an American metal band that formed in 1989 and has released eight full-length albums. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, frequenting industrial metal with flavors of death metal, groove metal, and thrash metal.^[1][2][3] Fear Factory proved to be enormously influential on the metal scene in the mid- to late-1990s.^[4] Fear Factory disbanded in March 2002^[5] following some internal disputes, but reformed later that year without founding member Dino Cazares, adding bassist Byron Stroud, and casting then-bassist Christian Olde Wolbers as guitarist.

In April 2009, a new lineup was announced with Cazares returning as lead and rhythm guitarist and Gene Hoglan as drummer. Bell and Stroud reprised their respective roles, and the band completed a seventh studio album entitled Mechanize. Former members Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera (both playing in Arkaea) disputed the legitimacy of the new lineup, and a legal battle is underway from both parties. Fear Factory released their eighth studio album, The Industrialist, in June 2012.^[6] Over the years, Fear Factory has seen changes in its members, with Burton C. Bell being the only consistent member since 1989.

The band has performed at three Ozzfests as well as the inaugural Gigantour and has had singles in the US Mainstream Rock Top 40 and albums in the Billboard Top 40, 100, and 200. The band has sold more than 1 million albums in the US alone.^{[citation needed]}

History

The early years (1989–1990)

Fear Factory's roots lie in deep beneath the ground in an outfit formed by guitarist Dino Cazares (formerly of The Douche Lords^[7]) and drummer Raymond Herrera in Los Angeles, California in 1989. Their first line-up was completed with the addition of vocalist Burton C. Bell (ex-Hate Face^[7]), allegedly recruited by an impressed Cazares upon overhearing him singing New Year's Day by U2 in the shower at a common boarding.^[8] Cazares played bass on the first 2 Fear Factory albums Concrete, Soul of a New Machine and about 60% on Demanufacture because he changed a lot of the riffs during the recording. Dino took 2 weeks getting a guitar tone so there was only one day and a half left for Christian to record the bass. Dino and Colin Richardson decided it would be faster for Dino to play most of the bass.

They started out under the name Ulceration, apparently picked for no real reason other than that they thought it would "just be a cool name" for the band,^[8] but they subsequently shifted to Fear Factory in 1990; the new moniker being more reflective of their burgeoning new death metal sound, influenced just as much by early British industrial metal, industrial music and grindcore as much as it continued to remain firmly rooted in a conservative extreme metal approach; a facet of their music that eventually saw the band’s appeal spread out over a wider music audience.

The earliest demo recordings of the band are strongly reminiscent of the early works of Napalm Death and also Godflesh, an acknowledged influence of the band, in the grindcore driven approach of the former and the mechanical brutality, bleakness and vocal stylings of the latter. The demos are remarkable for integrating these influences into their death metal sound and for Burton C. Bell’s pioneering fusion of extreme death growls and clean vocals in the same song, which was to become a significant and influential element of the band’s sound throughout their career.^[4] The use of grunts and "throat singing" combined with clean vocals has later defined the nu metal and newer genres of metal. Many vocalists, in today's metal scene, use two or more methods of singing and vocalizing lyrics. The band contributed two songs to the L.A. Death Metal Compilation in 1990.^[7] They played their first show on Wednesday, October 31, 1990.

Concrete (1991)

In 1991, Fear Factory proceeded to record a series of cuts to comprise their debut album with the then relatively unknown producer, Ross Robinson in Blackie Lawless’ studio. However, due to the band being unhappy with the terms of their recording contract, the material was not released at the time.

They retained the rights to the songs, however, many of which they re-recorded with a different producer, Colin Richardson, for inclusion on their actual debut release Soul of a New Machine, in 1992. Meanwhile, Ross Robinson obtained the rights to the recording, which he used to promote himself, subsequently finding enormous success during the nu metal explosion of the mid-late 1990s when he worked with bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot; ironically, bands that had little in common with the Fear Factory of 1991. The recording itself was eventually given an official release through Roadrunner Records in 2002 under the title Concrete during the band’s interim demise. It was seen as a controversial release, being issued out of the band’s outstanding contractual obligations and without the approval of all of the band’s members.

Although fan opinion has been divided over whether the Ross Robinson production properly captures the intricacies of the band’s sound, with the finished product favoring a more straight-up approach and Robinson’s distinct drum sound, the “secret” album has nevertheless become an important album for fans of the early Fear Factory sound and can be seen as a bridge between the band’s sound on their demo recordings and that on their debut release, Soul of a New Machine as well as a source of the blueprints for some of the band’s later songs and b-sides.

Based on the Concrete recording, Max Cavalera recommended them to the then death metal focused Roadrunner Records label, who proceeded to offer them a recording contract.^[8] While the band signed the contract at the time, it has since become the source of some controversy based on Roadrunner’s treatment of the band during the events surrounding their interim break up in 2002. This is supported by Burton C. Bell’s scathing lyrics on “Slave Labor” – the opening song on 2004’s Archetype, the band’s first album after their reformation – that do not mince their words about the band’s feelings on the matter. After working with numerous bassists, Andrew Shives was hired as a live bassist prior to the release of their debut album.

Soul of a New Machine (1992–1994)

Recorded with producer Colin Richardson and released in 1992, Soul of a New Machine was the band’s first exposure to the wider music scene and was seen as revolutionary for its pioneering industrial death metal sound, combining Bell’s harsh and melodic vocals, Herrera’s machine-like battery, the integrated industrial samples and textures and the sharp, down tuned rhythmic death metal riffs of Dino Cazares. Cazares and Herrera wrote all the music, and since they did not have a bass player, Dino played both guitar and bass on the recording.

Due to the extreme nature of the music, the album was not successful in the mainstream and even today remains more of a cult favourite, never seeing the level of popularity attained by their later, more accessible works. Indeed, the band’s style progressively shifted further away from the death metal sound with every subsequent release and Soul of a New Machine can strictly be seen as Fear Factory’s final effort that lies firmly in the death metal camp.

The band added sampler/keyboardist Reynor Diego to the lineup and supported the album by embarking on extensive tours across the US with Biohazard, Sepultura, and Sick Of It All and a tour of Europe with Brutal Truth, then Cannibal Corpse, Cathedral, and Sleep. The following year, they hired Front Line Assembly member Rhys Fulber to remix some songs from the album, demonstrating the band’s willingness to experiment with their music even at this early stage. The results took on a predominantly industrial guise, and were released as the Fear Is the Mindkiller EP in 1993 (both Soul of a New Machine and Fear is the Mindkiller were re-released together in a new re-mastered reissue by Roadrunner Records in 2004).

In 1993, Andrew Shives was forced to leave the band. In November of the same year, the band met a vacationing Christian Olde Wolbers (originally from Belgium) in LA, through Evan Seinfeld of Biohazard, whom they recruited as their permanent bassist.^[8] Although Christian joined the band with immediate effect, due to tight studio deadlines and Cazares’ regular tweaking of the guitar parts on the next album, he was unable to record the bass parts on all of its songs, with Cazares recording the bass for the remainder of the tracks.

Demanufacture (1995–1997)

Fear Factory released their second album Demanufacture in 1995, featuring a slight thawing down in the overly brutal approach of the early recordings in favor of a more industrial metal approach, characterized by a mix of rapid fire thrash metal/industrial metal guitar riffs and tight, pulse driven drum beats, roaring (rather than growled, but still aggressive) vocals that made way for melodic singing and powerful bass lines.

The production was also more refined and the integration of atmospheric keyboard parts and industrial textures upon Cazares’ and Herrera’s precise musicianship made the songs sound clinical, cold and machine-like and gave the band’s music a futuristic feel. Many fans consider Rhys Fulber’s involvement with the band integral to this dimension of their sound. There were extensive contributions from Reynor Diego as well; adding key samples, loops and electronic flourishes to the group dynamics.

Demanufacture is generally considered to be the band’s defining work and received much critical acclaim upon release, being awarded the maximum five K's rating in the UK’s Kerrang! rock magazine. It went on to become a fairly successful album. While Soul of a New Machine failed to chart anywhere, Demanufacture made the Top 10 of the Billboard Heatseekers charts and a video was filmed for the song "Replica"; the video it was featured in the Test Drive 5 video game for the PlayStation. The song "Zero Signal" was featured on the Mortal Kombat film soundtrack in 1995. Instrumental versions of Demanufacture songs were later used in the Carmageddon and Messiah videogames for the PC.

Fear Factory spent the next few years touring with such bands such as Black Sabbath, Megadeth and Iron Maiden and appearing at the 1996 and 1997 Ozzfests, among other music festivals. In May 1997, the band released a new album composed of Demanufacture remixes by artists such as DJ Dano or Junkie XL (now known as JXL) called Remanufacture - Cloning Technology, which marked the band’s first appearance on the Billboard 200 and also appeared on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. Roadrunner Records re-released Demanufacture and Remanufacture in a 10th Anniversary single package reissue in 2005, similar to that of Soul of a New Machine in 2004. This edition also includes bonus tracks from the digipak version of Demanufacture, which was also released in 1995.

Obsolete (1998–2000)

July 1998, saw the release of Fear Factory’s third studio album, titled Obsolete, with the band reportedly canceling an appearance at the Dynamo Open Air Festival to finish the album sooner.^{[citation needed]}

Obsolete was similar in sound to Demanufacture, but also saw the introduction of more progressive metal and alternative metal elements^[9] and for the first time, featured Christian Olde Wolbers recording with the band in his full capacity as a band member. It also featured Dino Cazares using 7-string guitars for the first time tuned to A tuning (A,D,G,C,F,A,D), paving the way for a lower-tuned sound than before. 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 actual concept album that dealt specifically with a literal interpretation of this subject, telling a story called Conception 5 written by Bell that takes place in a future world where mankind is rendered "obsolete" by the Machines, and features characters such as the “Edgecrusher”, “Smasher/Devourer” and the “Securitron” monitoring system. The story is presented in the lyrics booklet in a screenplay format in between the individual songs, with the printed story parts linking the lyrics of the songs together thematically.

Bell explained the concept in an interview as follows:^{[citation needed]}

The concept of this record is that man is obsolete. The idea is still man versus machine – man versus the system machine... man versus the government machine. Demanufacture told a story, Remanufacture was another chapter in the story and Obsolete is another part of the Fear Factory concept. We're up to the point in the story where man is obsolete. Man has created these machines to make his life easier but in the long run it made him obsolete. The machines he created are now destroying him. Man is not the primary citizen on Earth.

— Burton C. Bell

Coincidentally released in the alternative metal boom of the late 1990s, Obsolete, supported by tours with Slayer and later, Rammstein, along with a headlining spot on the second stage at Ozzfest in 1999 (as last-minute replacements for Judas Priest), went on to become 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 in "Descent" and in the digipak bonus track, "Cars", a cover of the famous Gary Numan song (featuring a guest appearance by Numan himself, on the song, as well as in its music video), that made the Mainstream Rock Top 40 in 1999 and was also featured in the video game, Test Drive 6. Incidentally, Numan also performs a spoken word sample on the album’s title track. A video was also filmed for the song, "Resurrection". To date, Obsolete remains the only Fear Factory album to have achieved gold sales in the US.

Digimortal and demise (2001–2002)

In early 2001, Fear Factory was asked to headline SnoCore Rock. The success of Obsolete and "Cars" was to be a turning point for the band, with Roadrunner Records now keen on capitalizing on the band’s sales potential and pressuring the band to record more accessible material for their follow-up album, titled Digimortal, which was released in 2001.

While Digimortal remained consistent with the band’s lyrical evolution, with Bell now singing about Man and Machine having become merged and unable to be separated without immense harm being caused, musically, the shift to simpler, more radio friendly song structures lost the band some of its more extreme metal fans and the album is considered by some to be inferior to their earlier releases. Fan opinion, however, remains strongly divided between those who view the album as a colossal failure, those who associate it with the nu metal movement and others who contend that the sound is still the same Fear Factory at its core and praise the merits afforded by the Rhys Fulber production.

Digimortal made the Top 40 on the Billboard album charts, the Top 20 in Canada and the Top 10 of the Australian album charts. "Linchpin" off the album again reached the Mainstream Rock Top 40.

A remix of the song "Invisible Wounds" was included on the Resident Evil film soundtrack, and an instrumental digipak bonus track called "Full Metal Contact" was originally written for the video game, Demolition Racer.

A VHS/DVD release called Digital Connectivity was released soon after, in January 2002, which documents each of the four album periods of the band via interviews, live clips, music videos and tour/studio footage.

Although Digimortal had a successful start, the sales did not reach anywhere near the levels of Obsolete and the band received little tour support. The direction of the album coupled with strong personal differences between some of the band members created a rift that escalated with time, to the point where Bell announced his exit in March 2002. The band disbanded immediately thereafter with its publicists citing not poor album sales but "largely because vocalist Burton C. Bell is tired of playing angry, aggressive music and wants to form a band that's more indie-rock-oriented." In a final collaboration, the group recorded two songs for the video game The Terminator: Dawn of Fate that same month.^[10] Fear Factory’s contractual obligations remained unfulfilled, however, and Roadrunner did not release them without controversially issuing the Concrete album (originally from 1991) in 2002 and the B-sides and rarities compilation, Hatefiles in 2003.

During his time away from Fear Factory, Bell started his side project along with John Bechdel, called Ascension of the Watchers, who released their first EP, Iconoclast, independently via their online store in 2005.

First return (2002–2003)

Over time, it emerged that the rift between the members was largely between the guitarist Dino Cazares and the other members, particularly Bell.

Cazares was the first to be asked about the break-up, proceeding to make claims and allegations against Bell and the other members in May 2002 in a Blabbermouth.net interview.^[11] Herrera made a response to the claims and allegations in a counter interview,^[12] speaking on behalf of all the other members. Herrera also responded on Dino's statement that Fear Factory could continue without Christian and his assertion that Raymond and Christian were primarily motivated by money:

I find that very funny, because literally the day after Burt quit the band, Dino called me and asked me to persuade Burt to do this last record. There was a lot of money on the line and Dino wanted to get paid.

If Christian were to have left the band, I wouldn't have continued. Christian is one of the best bass players there are he really contributed A LOT to this band. The sound of Fear Factory after Demanufacture: on Obsolete and Digimortal - had a lot to do with Christian. Some fans may have liked that, some fans may not have liked that, but for the better or worse, Christian made a big impact on this band, whether Dino wants to admit it or not.^[13]

— Raymond Herrera

According to Herrera, the other members of the group would often come up with new ideas that they wanted to incorporate into Fear Factory's sound, only to have their suggestions dismissed or openly ridiculed, in the process causing a deep-seated rift between Cazares and Bell that ultimately led to the band's breakup in March 2002:

“	One of the problems that we had with Dino was that Christian would come up with a lot of good ideas. Some of the best stuff we've ever written was stuff that we wrote around him. So, a lot of people may have seen somebody who didn't really contribute much, because everybody kinda let that up to Dino, Burt, or myself even. He did contribute a lot, but a lot of the things… Having said that, there was a lot more stuff that we couldn't have done that could have been maybe a little more fresh or a little more new that we didn't do because Dino would shoot it down. Dino would shoot Christian down a lot. It wasn't so much that [Dino didn't want to progress or that he wanted to play the same kind of stuff], it was just like new ideas [weren't being accepted]. Sometimes you just want to try something new or something different, and it just wasn't possible with him around sometimes, because it wasn't his idea. It was one of those things that if it didn't come from him, it was no good. And Burt would come up with a lot of good ideas, great vocal ideas and new vocal things he wanted to do, and he would get shot down. I was in the room when I've seen it happen a few times, and I was just like thinking, 'Oh, my God, why does he have to be so fucking mean to him and rude.' When you're in a band like that, you have to respect everybody else that's in the band, you know. Maybe some people don't know how to write as well as others, but you still gotta respect their opinion, because in a sense you're an equal to them, you're in the same fucking band, you know?! I think he limited this band more than progressed it, 'cause one of the other things that kinda pissed me off is that when Dino did some interviews for the 'Digimortal' record, he was talking about how he did something new by playing clean guitar, this and that. It took Christian about a week to convince Dino to not use distortion. When Christian wanted to put turntable scratching on 'Edgecrusher', God, you should have seen the shit… I mean, I'm telling you, new ideas that this band had were not Dino's ideas. Everybody believes differently and I know Dino brainwashed a lot of people into thinking that it was because of him that the band was this or that… I know the truth. I've been in this band since Day One. Me and Dino started this band. I know what we did to progress, what we didn't do, and what we could have done… And we didn't do it. Having said that, I think the band is in a better position now.[14]	”

Olde Wolbers and Herrera got back together later in 2002 and laid the foundations for what was to become the return of Fear Factory. With Cazares now permanently out of the line up, Bell was approached with their demo recordings and was impressed enough to rejoin the band and Fear Factory was formed once again. Christian switched to guitar and Byron Stroud of Strapping Young Lad was approached to join the band as their new bassist, and was their bass player from 2003, up until 2012.

Dino Cazares has continued recording and performing with his side project called Asesino, a Mexican deathgrind band featuring Tony Campos of Static-X on vocals. In 2007, he also started a new group called Divine Heresy, featuring Tim Yeung, formerly of Hate Eternal and Vital Remains, on drums.

Archetype (2004)

Fear Factory made their live return as the mystery band at the Australian Big Day Out festival in January 2004, followed by their first American shows since reforming, on the spring Jägermeister tour along with Slipknot and Chimaira. The new lineup's first album Archetype was released on April 20, 2004 through new record label Liquid 8 Records based in Minnesota.

Archetype saw Fear Factory returning to an alternative and partially industrial metal sound and is generally considered to be a strong and 'back-to-form' record, if not a particularly innovative effort, with most of the trademark elements of the band firmly in place.

When you look up the definition of the word, Archetype, it's the actual model from which everything else is copied. Fear Factory is that in my opinion, and Archetype is a defining moment for us. Listen to this record, and you'll know exactly where all these other bands came from.^[15]

— Burton C. Bell

Videos were shot for the songs "Cyberwaste", "Archetype" and "Bite the Hand that Bleeds", with the latter featuring on the Saw film soundtrack. Further tours with Lamb of God and Mastodon in the US and with Mnemic in Europe put the band back on the worldwide metal map. The new Fear Factory has largely abandoned the direct "Man versus Machine" theme prevalent on earlier releases in favor of subjects such as religion, war and corporatism.

Transgression (2005–2006)

To the surprise of many fans, Fear Factory soon revealed plans to subsequently record and release their next full-length album over a very short period of time with mainstream rock producer Toby Wright (normally known to work with bands such as Korn and Alice in Chains). This was allegedly due to pressure from their new label, Calvin Records, who pulled back the album’s due date from four months away to just a month and a half, in order that the band would have a completed new album to support on the inaugural Gigantour, which they had been invited to participate on by Dave Mustaine.^[16]

The resultant album, Transgression, was released barely a year after Archetype on August 22, 2005 in the United Kingdom, and on the following day in North America to highly polarized reviews, with some critics hailing the album as a diverse and progressive effort and other reviewers not receiving the record very well.^[17] Although the album starts off as a Fear Factory record, subsequent songs include mellow/alt-rock numbers in "Echo of My Scream" (featuring Faith No More’s Billy Gould on bass) and "New Promise", a pop-rock song in "Supernova" and a faithful cover of U2’s poppy, "I Will Follow".^[18]

In 2013 Christian Olde Wolbers via his facebook page revealed more details regarding writing and recording of Transgression and Archetype:

We had some really heavy shit on transgression that never made it to the album because Burt didn't wanna sing on fast blast beat songs. We had over 20 songs. Burt picked the songs he wanted to write to. I helped create and helped write at least 60% of the vocal hooks and melodies on Archetype. I held his hand during the writing and demo process. I wrote the verse in "Cyberwaste", chorus melodies in archetype, etc... Only "Bonescraper" was done on the spot in the studio. On "Transgression" I wasn't allowed to interfere with Burt's writing process. It was Burt and Toby. When I heard the first takes I cringed and thought it was demo stage to still find the melodies etc. They told me it was a done deal and to stay out of it. Transgression, I am NOT proud off at all. It's crap. I produced Archetype. Burt produced "Transgression" with Toby Wright. That is the truth.

— ^[19], Christian O. W.

Christian Olde Wolbers has expressed disappointment with the finished product, calling it only half-finished, and has blamed the label for the severe time constraints imposed during the recording sessions and for the inclusion of the U2 cover,^[16] but Burton C. Bell has maintained that he is proud of the album and sees it as the band "stepping over boundaries".^[20] Over 2005–2006, Fear Factory went on to promote the album on their successful "Fifteen Years of Fear" world tour in celebration of their fifteenth anniversary, inviting bands such as Darkane, Strapping Young Lad and Soilwork to join them on the US jaunt and Misery Index to join them on the European jaunt. Late 2005 saw Fear Factory tour the US once again on the "Machines at War" tour, with an all star death metal line-up of special guests in Suffocation, Hypocrisy and Decapitated, playing certain old classics from Soul of a New Machine such as "Crash Test" which they had not performed live in many years.

Hiatus and other projects (2006–2008)

An online statement from Wolbers in December 2006 indicated that the band was to head back into the studio to record a new album, produced by the band, immediately after the completion of the Transgression touring cycle.^[21] That same month, Burton C. Bell confirmed in an interview that the band would part ways with Liquid 8 Records.^[22] Yet rather than begin work on a new studio album, the band members briefly went their separate ways, and began working with other projects.

Bell contributed vocals to the songs "End Of Days, Pt.1", "End of Days, Pt. 2", and "Die In A Crash" on Ministry's 2007 album The Last Sucker,^[23] and later toured with the band in support of the album. Bell referred to this as a "dream come true" in an interview, describing Ministry front man Al Jourgensen as "one of [his] heroes."^[24] In that same interview, Bell talked at length about his new band Ascension of the Watchers, providing insight into the inspiration behind the project's formation.^[24]

On March 21, 2008, while FF was on hiatus, Burton C. Bell via video interview spoke about the future of Fear Factory:

The music that FF writing for so long, i come to realization that there's so much violence, there's so much aggression in this world already and I'm almost kind of tired of adding to it, even though there's more to Fear Factory than that, it's very angry and it's very almost violent music and I feel I've re-find myself as a person through life and I've learned a lot. I'm not the angry young kid anymore. I'm a 39 year old man with children and if that doesn't change you, there's something wrong with you.^[25]

— Burton C. Bell

Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera went on to start their own new band, called Arkaea, with vocalist Jon Howard and bassist Pat Kavanagh of Threat Signal. In describing the band, Wolbers stated that "Ironically, half of the Arkaea album consists of songs that were intended to be the next Fear Factory record."^[26] Arkaea released their debut album Years in the Darkness on July 14, 2009.^[26]

Second return and Mechanize (2009–2011)

On April 7, 2009, Burton C. Bell and ex-guitarist Dino Cazares announced the reconciliation of their friendship, and the formation of a new project with Byron Stroud on bass and drummer Gene Hoglan (Death, Strapping Young Lad, Dark Angel, Dethklok). On April 28, this project was revealed to be a new version of Fear Factory, excluding Herrera and Wolbers.^[27] When asked about their exclusion, Bell stated that "[Fear Factory is] like a business and I'm just reorganizing... We won't talk about [their exclusion]".^[28]

In June 2009, Wolbers and Herrera spoke about the issue on the radio program "Speed Freaks." Herrera claimed he and Wolbers were still in the band. "[Christian and I] are actually still in Fear Factory...[Burton and Dino] decided to start a new band, and furthermore, they decided to call it Fear Factory. They never communicated with us about it", said Herrera.^[29] Herrera added that the original four members (Bell, Cazares, Wolbers, and himself) were contractually regarded as Fear Factory Incorporated, and said "it's almost like them two against us two, so it's kind of a stalemate." The drummer also stated that he and Wolbers had written eight songs for the next Fear Factory record, but that a "personal disagreement" had come up between them and Bell, which left Bell not wanting to continue work with the band.^[29]

Bell and Cazares later spoke about the issue, revealing their reasons for excluding Herrera and Wolbers. Cazares stated that Bell wanted to reunite the classic Fear Factory line-up of himself, Cazares, Herrera, and Wolbers, but that Herrera and Wolbers refused to be a part of any reunion with Cazares.^[30] Bell also stated that another factor was that he wanted to fire the band's manager, Christy Priske, who was also the wife of Wolbers, and Herrera and Wolbers refused. Herrera and Wolbers threatened to sign a new record deal without Bell, prompting him to form a new version of Fear Factory without them.^[31] However Wolbers stated in a few interviews that Bell had a "growing unacceptable demands" which was declined "Ray and I wanted what was best for the business and what he [Burton] was trying to change wasn't really good for the business. It was only bad for the business, so that's why he went into that whole phase of hijacking the name and trying to run with it." ^[32] In the video interview Raymond called Dino\Bell's actions regarding FF brand battle as an "desperation thing" and "a legal pissing contest".^[33] Christian also stated few times on his Facebook page that "huge ego" (pointing on Bell\Cazares) is the only reason why "real" FF couldn't reunited.^[34]

Fear Factory featuring Bell and Cazares was set to make its live debut on June 21 in the Metalway Festival in Zaragoza, Spain.^[35] However, the show was canceled "at the last minute", apparently due to the legal complications referenced by Herrera. The rest of that lineup's planned performances over Summer 2009, which included a tour of United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand in August 2009, had also been canceled.^[36] The group claims they canceled the tour in order to finish writing and recording the next Fear Factory album.^[37] Despite the canceled performances in Europe, shows around December were performed in South American countries including Argentina,^[38] Chile^[39] and Brazil.

On June 23, 2009, during the interview Dino Cazares was asked about if he think he could ever have a working relationship with Raymond and Christian again, he responded next:

No, because I think that the difference between Raymond and Christian and Burton is Burton is more sincere. I believe Raymond and Christian, I believe it's more money-driven, because it's been since they've been in the band...they've been more money-driven, they've been more money-hungry kind of guys and first and foremost for me it's more about the music, it's not really about the money, it's about playing the music that you love and playing with people that you like. I'm very happy to be coming back and playing the old songs that I created. I'm happy to be back... No, I don't see myself coming back and jamming with Raymond and Christian again.

If you want to hear "Archetype", just listen to the early FF records. That's pretty much... they're pretty much a carbon copy. The riffs are pretty much a carbon copy. The song "Slave Labor" was a carbon copy of "Shock", so why not play the original version, which is "Shock"? They're very, very similar. I could go through the whole record and tell you what riff each was... I could actually sue Christian for stealing my riffs, but I was like, "No, I'll take the high road, I'm very happy with DH," and that's what I was just really happy doing until Burton approached me and I ended up coming back. He pretty much had it all set to go.^[40]

— Dino Cazares

Despite ongoing issues between the two parties, the new Fear Factory moved ahead with the recording process. In late July 2009, a short video shot with a cell phone showed Cazares recording over drum tracks with longtime contributor Rhys Fulber. On November 6, 2009, blabbermouth.net revealed that Mechanize would be released on February 9, 2010, on Candlelight Records.^[41] On November 8, 2009, Fear Factory released a track titled "Powershifter" on YouTube.^[42] On November 10, 2009, Bell gave a track list for the Mechanize album, along with an explanation of each song.^[43]

In January 2010, Fear Factory played in Australian and New Zealand tour on the Big Day Out tour playing their first Australian dates since 2005 on January 17 at Parklands Showgrounds on Queensland's Gold Coast. Fear Factory released Mechanize on February 5, 2010, and began their US tour, dubbed "Fear Campaign Tour 2010", in late March. In August 2010 they headlined the Brutal Assault open air festival in Czech Republic.

I was already really familiar with the whole approach of it [FF's drum style]. A couple of the old songs were kind of challenging, songs like "Zero Signal." That song is a work of genius, absolutely, with the disco beat and the double bass going over it, and the [reverse gallop] pattern, all that sort of stuff. It’s a great song, [with] great drum patterns. The whole aspect of that song is always, for me, like (*shaking himself as if trying to avoid the song like the plague*) "can you play that one now?" I've got it now; I always knew that I would get it all down. It’s pretty aerobic, but nothing too crazy. ^{[44] [45]}

— Gene Hoglan

In September 2010, Fear Factory toured Australia, New Zealand, and Tokyo, Japan as the opening act for Metallica. The New Zealand concerts were in Christchurch, two shows that were brought about by a petition sent to Metallica, asking them to visit the second biggest city in New Zealand. After the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, the South Island concerts were in doubt; however, on September 15, 2010, an official announced was made that the CBS Arena escaped harm, and both shows went ahead.

The Industrialist (2011–2013)

In an interview during the 70000 Tons of Metal cruise, Bell revealed that Fear Factory was planning to write and record a "full-on concept" album, which was due for release in 2012. He explained, "We're gonna kind of take a break a little bit, but we're definitely going into the studio at some point and start writing. We wanna take our time doing it. Personally... Mechanize, don't get me wrong, is a good record — I'm very proud of it — but it's gotta be better than that. I've got plans where I'd like to do a full-on concept again — story, artwork. Just make it real cerebral. But there'll definitely be another Fear Factory record, maybe in 2012."^[46]

On August 3, 2011, guitarist Dino Cazares announced on his Twitter that he was working and demoing new material for the next Fear Factory album.^[47] On January 25, 2012, the band announced that the new album will be titled The Industrialist. It is due later this year in Europe via AFM Records and in the U.S. through Candlelight. The album is once again being co-produced by the band with Rhys Fulber while the mixing duties will be handled by Greg Reely.^[48]

Byron Stroud left FF early in 2012. He commented on the reason for his departure: "Life's too short to spend it with people who don't respect you." ^[49] In one of the interview Dino Cazares spoke out on the Byron's role in FF and his decision to leave:

Byron just said that he didn't wanna be in the band anymore, and I said ‘Okay’. I didn't have a problem with it. You'll have to ask him why he left though, because I don't know. I really don't know.

On our last record Mechanize, the bass player [Byron Stroud] couldn't play the parts, he just couldn't pick that fast, so I did it. He was never really an official member of the band. Nobody is an official member of the band except Burt and I.^[50]

— Dino Cazares

In February 2012, Byron, who joined 3 Inches of Blood, was replaced by former Chimaira guitar player Matt DeVries. On February 29, 2012 Dino Cazares announced via his official Facebook that The Industrialist will be released June 5, 2012. On March 9, Gene Hoglan announced he would not take part in the upcoming tour,^[51] and on April 19, 2012, Mike Heller of Malignancy and System Divide was announced as the new drummer. At the same time, Dino Cazares confirmed via his Facebook page that the drums on The Industrialist were programmed by Cazares with the help of John Sankey of Devolved.^[52]

The Industrialist was described by Burton to be another concept album "sonically, conceptually, and lyrically".^[53] Dino also remarked that he and Burton were the two in control of the record's outcome, and that the songwriting on the album was much more "definitive" in regards to Fear Factory's platform sound.^[53]

On June 4, 2012 Fear Factory's new album The Industrialist was available to stream through AOL Music. The album was released through Candlelight Records on June 5, 2012.^[54]

On 2012, Burton C. Bell via video interview spoke regarding changing line-ups and current incarnation of FF:

Working with Matt and Mike is being great but they didn't work on the album. They came in after album was finished. Mike Heller is a great drummer he is a fine, fresh talent and he is got bright future. Matt is an excellent bass player and of course he was guitarist of Chimaira and its always taken guitar player to play bass for FF. This band is now more precise than ever. We'll see, i mean, why this[line-up] is have to be stable? FF it's only me and Dino, it doesn't matter who is on drums and on bass ^[55]

— Burton C. Bell.

On October 1, 2012, ex-guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers via his Facebook page spoke about possible FF original line-up reunion:

I get asked the question daily.. so here is the answer... It's up to them.. they hold the cards. Ray and i have no beef or issues.. we could care less... like i said, it's up to them. Simple as that.^[56]

— Christian O. W.

On May 2, 2013 Dino Cazares commented regarding status of FF albums which was recorded without his participation [Archetype and Transgression] and the band's decision not to play any of it live:

“	There was two other ones, obviously i wasn't there, those doesn't exist, they don't count[as a FF records].[57] At first I didn't want to play any of the songs that I wasn't on. There was then a point where I was like "We should do a song or two." Then Burton said "No, we're not doing any". I don't really like those records. No one really requests that material, so it doesn't really matter actually.	”

Contradicting this, Fear Factory played the track 'Archetype' on their 2013 Australian tour in early July. One notable change to the song is the slight editing of existing lyrics to "The infections have been removed...".^[58]

On Aug. 2, 2013, ex-drummer Gene Hoglan revealed more details regarding his departure from FF, saying next:

“	They made some choices, and I wasn't a part of their choices, so it was like, "OK. You've got the human drum machine playing for you, but you're going to [record an album] with a drum machine? OK. Bye." Like I was saying earlier, it's, like, I go where it's fun, and if it's fun, and I'm valued, and I feel like part of the team, great. And apparently I was so not even part of the team that I wasn't even told that "Oh, yeah, we recorded the record with the drum machine." I was waiting for a schedule; like, seriously, I waited. Waiting for, like, "Hey, when do you guys want to go to the studio?" Like, "Hey, I'm booked, I'm trying to get in touch with you guys to block time out." Everybody's asking me to come play on this project — "Come do this over here. When are you guys going to go in the studio?" — and they are, like, "Oh, we will let you know." Then I read on Blabbermouth the album is done, I'm, like, "OK, well, so am I. So you made your choice. Bye." He [Byron Stroud] asked me to be a part of it. Because I always said, the band knows this, I said, "I would never play for Fear Factory. That's one band that I will never play for — ever, ever, ever." Byron asked — he's my brother — he's, like, "If you don't do this, we can't be a band." Will you do this? And I was, like, "For you, yes." And so I did it. Byron quit and so I was, like, "I don't want to be a part of this anymore." I didn't want to be a part of [it] in the first place. [We] made a killer record; you know, "Mechanize" is a good album. It's good for them. All I know is… I mean, I read stuff, and I see what people say about the latest record ["The Industrialist"]. They're, like, [saying] what a disappointment [and a] sinking ship this is... OK, you guys made it really obvious, You two guys [guitarist and singer] wanted all the money. Those guys are my friends still — they're still my buddies — but [their] business decisions were… I understand it's, like, there is not a lot of money there, and I don't come cheap, and I went cheap for them, but they knew that the next album, since I did that first one ["Mechanize"] super cheap and all the touring super cheap, that it wasn't going to be cheap anymore. They made the proper business decision for themselves, so they wouldn't be super broke, but I don't know… I think they've made it very apparent that… No offense intended, but it kind of looks like a sinking ship. I dig the guys that are playing for them — they're nice guys — but, you know, [they should] bury [their] differences with Christian and Raymond. [They should] get those two guys back and [they'll] be on top of the game again. You know, that's all you've got to do. I'm sure that will never happen, because they've gone to court against each other and all that sort of stuff, but if you really want to have a future, that's the only way.[59]	”

In a series of Facebook posts FF addressed usage of drum machine and Gene Hoglan's role in the band:

“	After the drums are edited to be spot on to the grid at what point is it human any more? It's been Mechanized. You don't think Gene has not been edited? on all the Strapping records and the FF cd? you don't even know what we had to do to fix his drum parts.[60]	”

Next album

On May 1, 2013, guitarist Dino Cazares told Songfacts.com that Fear Factory will begin work on a new album after they finish touring in support of The Industrialist. It is expected to be released in early 2014.^[61]

On May 13, 2013, singer Burton C. Bell told Metal-rules.com and said: Fear Factory will continue to tour North America and Europe 2013. We’ve got some more tours scheduled, some summer festivals next year. During that time our plan is to start writing a new record and we would like to have a new record out by spring 2014.^[62]

Legacy and influence

Fear Factory’s innovative approach towards, and hybridization of the genres of industrial metal, death metal and alternative metal has had a lasting impact on metal music ever since the release of their first album in 1992. Fear Factory is noteworthy among contemporaries for their lyrical focus on science fiction, with much of their music telling a single story spanning several concept albums. The band has often been called a "stepping stone"^[63] leading mainstream listeners to venture into less-known/more extreme bands, and are consistently appreciated.

In the liner notes of the Soul of a New Machine re-release, Machine Head vocalist Robert Flynn, Chimaira vocalist Mark Hunter and Spineshank guitarist Mike Sarkisyan have cited Fear Factory as an influence. Robert Flynn stated his vocal style was influenced by Burton Bell's vocals and that Machine Head have been wrongly credited for the vocal style. Mark Hunter stated that Chimaira's drumming was heavily influenced by Raymond Herrera. Other bands that have Fear Factory in their liner notes include Slipknot, Static-X & Coal Chamber.

Modern bands such as Mnemic, Scarve, Stiff Valentine, Sybreed, Threat Signal, and contain significant influences of the band’s technique and have also credited a substantial debt of gratitude to the band.^[64][65][66] Peter Tägtgren of Hypocrisy has said that “Fear Factory are close to our hearts” and that “Soul of a New Machine was the influence for me to start my other project, 'Pain'”.^[67] Devin Townsend of Strapping Young Lad stated his main influences for Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing were Fear Factory and Napalm Death.^[68] In an interview on That Metal Show, Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward stated that Fear Factory is one of the bands he wishes he could play with.

Band members

Current

• Burton C. Bell – lead vocals (1989–present)
• Dino Cazares – guitar, backing vocals (1989–2002, 2009–present)
• Matt DeVries – bass (2012–present)
• Mike Heller – drums (2012–present)^[69]

Former

• Dave Gibney – bass, vocals (spoken word intro for "Big God/Raped Souls" on Concrete) (1989–1991)
• Andy Romero – bass on Concrete (1991–1992)
• Andrew Shives – bass (1992–1993)
• Raymond Herrera – drums, percussion (1989–2008)
• Christian Olde Wolbers – bass (1993–2002), guitar (2002–2008)
• Byron Stroud – bass (2003–2012)
• Gene Hoglan – drums (2009–2012)

Additional personnel

• Reynor Diego – samples/keyboards (1991–1995) (live and recorded on Demanufacture)
• Rhys Fulber – samples/keyboards/programming/mixing (live and recorded Demanufacture, Obsolete, Digimortal, Archetype and Mechanize) (1993–2004, 2009–present)
• John Bechdel – live keyboards (1998–2004), programming (recorded on Digimortal, Archetype)
• Steve Tushar – live keyboards (1996–1997, 2004–2005), programming, electronics (recorded on Archetype and Transgression)
• John Morgan - live keyboards (1997)
• John Sankey - drum programming on The Industrialist.

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

• Soul of a New Machine (1992)
• Demanufacture (1995)
• Obsolete (1998)
• Digimortal (2001)
• Archetype (2004)
• Transgression (2005)
• Mechanize (2010)
• The Industrialist (2012)
• TBA (2014)

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Twitter
• Official Facebook
• Interview with Matt Deveries talking about joining the band

v t e Fear Factory Burton C. Bell Dino Cazares Matt DeVries Mike Heller Christian Olde Wolbers Raymond Herrera Reynor Diego Andrew Shives Byron Stroud Gene Hoglan Studio albums Soul of a New Machine Demanufacture Obsolete Digimortal Archetype Transgression Mechanize The Industrialist Compilation albums Messiah Hatefiles The Best of Fear Factory Demo albums Concrete Remix albums Remanufacture Video albums Digital Connectivity Extended plays Fear Is the Mindkiller Burn The Gabber Mixes Resurrection Live on the Sunset Strip Singles "Replica" "Dog Day Sunrise" "Shock" "Edgecrusher" "Resurrection" "Descent" "Cars" "Linchpin" "Invisible Wounds (Dark Bodies)" "Cyberwaste" "Archetype" "Bite the Hand That Bleeds" "Supernova" "Moment of Impact" "Spinal Compression" "Transgression" "Powershifter" "Fear Campaign" "Final Exit" "Recharger" "New Messiah" "The Industrialist" Related bands Ascension of the Watchers Asesino Brujeria GZR Strapping Young Lad Zimmers Hole Divine Heresy Arkaea City of Fire Spineshank Related articles Discography