METALLIAN - Fear Factory

Soul Of A New Machine - 1992 - Roadrunner
Demanufacture - 1995 - Roadrunner
Obsolete - 1998 - Roadrunner
Digimortal - 2001 - Roadrunner
Archetype - 2004 - Liquid 8
Transgression - 2005 - Trillion
Mechanize – 2010 - Candlelight
The Industrialist – 2012 - Candlelight
Genexus – 2015 – Nuclear Blast Entertainment
Monolith – 2019 – Nuclear Blast Entertainment
Aggression Continuum – 2021 - Nuclear Blast Entertainment

Members

Vocals

Hate Face, Alceration, G/Z/R, Ascention Of The Watchers, City Of Fire, Ministry>>Burton C. Bell>>G/Z/R, Ascention Of The Watchers, City Of Fire, Ministry, Solo

Guitar

The Douche Lords, Excruciating Terror, Alceration, Max Cavalera, Nail Bomb, Brujeria>>Dino Cazares>>Max Cavalera, Nail Bomb, Brujeria, Asesino, Body Bag, Divine Heresy, Dieklute, Soulfly - Cyclone, The Kush Project, Arkaea>>Christian Olde Wolbers>>The Kush Project, Korn, Arkaea, Devolution - The Douche Lords, Excruciating Terror, Alceration, Max Cavalera, Nail Bomb, Brujeria, Body Bag, Divine Heresy, Dieklute, Soulfly>>DINO CAZARES>>Divine Heresy, Dieklute, Soulfly

Bass

Andrew Shives>>Cool For August - Cyclone, The Kush Project>>Christian Olde Wolbers>>The Kush Project, Arkaea, Beowülf, Devolution - Strapping Young Lad, Tenet>>Byron Stroud>>Strapping Young Lad, Tenet, 3 Inches Of Blood - Chimaira, Six Feet Under, Ringworm, Lamb Of God>>Matt Devries>>Lamb Of God, Unearth, 93 – Static-X, Asesino, Ministry, Brujeria, Possessed, Prong, Soulfly, The Monarch>>TONY CAMPOS>>Static-X, Asesino, Ministry, Soulfly, The Monarch

Drum

Phobia, The Kush Project, Brujeria, Arkaea>>Raymond Herrera>>Phobia, Brujeria, The Kush Project, Arkaea - Wargod, Dark Angel, Death, Phantasm, Konkhra, Naphobia, Phantasm, Old Man’s Child, Testament, Dethklok, Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole, Tenet, Anthrax>>Gene Hoglan>>Dethklok, Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole, Tenet, Anthrax – Malignancy, System Divide, Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky, Azure Emote, WretchedPain, Castrofate, Cruelty Exalted, Excommunicated, Raven, Amahiru, The Lucid>>MIKE HELLER>>Malignancy, System Divide, Azure Emote, WretchedPain, Castrofate, Cruelty Exalted, Excommunicated, Raven, Amahiru, The Lucid

History & Biography

Los Angeles' Fear Factory was formed as a death metal band by members of various local acts and adult movie actors. The band was first heard on the Roughage Records' (now Dwell) L.A. Death Metal sampler CD and then snapped up with great pride by Roadrunner A&R Monte Connor.

The band initially was deemed death metal with ambient screams, but quickly transformed itself into a well-funded techno/industrial act with no relevance to metal fans. Wolbers is Dutch and was visiting Biohazard in the USA when was asked to audition for the recently-bass less Fear Factory. The debut album was supported through a tour of Europe with Cannibal Corpse and Desultory. The group toured the USA with Obituary. Roadrunner and Fear Factory often released re-mix CDs and EPs to further sell and promote the band. It was also trendy to do 'industrial' remixes as bands liked to differentiate themselves ironically. The debut albums were remixed in this sense in the Fear Is The Mindkiller EP of 1993. The title was borrowed from the Dune books/movie. Following disappointing sales figures for Digimortal and a consequent difference of opinion between Bell and Cazares, the band made the surprise announcement of its demise in March 2002. Instead a line-up of Burton C. Bell (vocals), Christian Olde Wolbers (guitar/bass) and Raymond Herrera (drums) would cut a three-track demo late in 2002 thus reversing the dissolution announcement. The songs featured were Slave Labor, Corporate Cloning and Archetyp. Simultaneously, Bell and live keyboardist John Bechdel would forge ahead with a new band called The Watchers. Furthermore Wolbers and Herrera would constitute The Kush Project. Not to be outdone, Cazares would form Asesino. Cazares would also jam with Body Bag.

The new line-up would work on a new album called Archetype in California and in Vancouver in Canada. The group had earlier signed with Liquid 8 in North America and Roadrunner in Europe. The band recruited bassist Byron Stroud of Strapping Young Lad for live work and Wolbers switched to guitar. Fear Factory hit the road with Slipknot to support the album.

The band's Transgression album was issued through Roadrunner on August 23rd 2005 . SYL's Byron Stroud played on the album. The European version featured several extra tracks. A slot on the Gigantour preceded the album's release. Christian Olde Wolbers joined Korn in the spring of 2006. The band and Liquid 8 Records parted ways in late 2006 without producing a new record. After a five-year hiatus, Dino Cazares returned with a new group. Divine Heresy featured Cazares handling guitar and bass duties, Tim Yeung (Hate Eternal and Vital Remains) on drums and newcomer Tommy Vext on vocals. The band’s Roadrunner/Century Media Records’ debut offering, Bleed The Fifth, was set for an August of 2007 release. The album didn’t arrive, but Arkaea, the band of Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera, as well as singer Jon Howard (Threat Signal) released its debut album on March 10th, 2009 through Koch Records. Drawing parallels between Def Leppard and Poison, which ended up announcing a tour after slagging each other for a year, Dino Cazares and Burton C. Bell joined together in the spring of 2009 to form a band. Apparently, Gene Hoglan was drumming. The two Fear Factory alumni had spent several years slagging one another. A legal battle ensued for the rights to the name Fear Factory. The reconciled Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares squared off against Raymond Herrera and Christian Olde Wolbers. In the meantime the latter two are busy with their Century Media-signed band Arkaea. The other two have just cancelled a proposed Europe, Australia and New Zealand tour it would seem to record an album.

City Of Fire was a new project featuring Burton C. Bell and Byron Stroud in addition to Terry "Sho" Murray (guitar), Ian White and drummer Bob Wagner. The band was releasing a demo in the summer of 2009. Metal Mind Productions would re-release Hatefiles in 2009, which was Fear Factory's compilation album featuring rare, unreleased and remixed tracks from 2003. The album was notable as it contained Terminate, the last song to be recorded with the original guitarist Dino Cazares. Candlelight signed Fear Factory in 2009. The American alterna-rockers’ album, Mechanize, was to be issued in February. Naturally, Gene Hoglan was part of the line-up. Fear Factory’s tour bus caught fire while en route to London from Sheffield in England in August of 2010. The fire reportedly stemmed from a back wheel tire before spreading throughout the double-decker coach. BBC News confirmed the fire closed down two lanes of the southbound M1 as Northamptonshire fire officials battled the blaze. In late 2011, Former Fear Factory member Christian Olde Wolbers joined Venice Beach, California crossover band Beowülf on bass. Vancouver, Canada’s 3 Inches Of Blood recruited Byron Stroud (Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory, etc.) as its new bassist. Fear Factory picked The Industrialist as the title for its next album, which is due later this year through Candlelight. The band also confirmed Matt DeVries as the band’s new bass player. DeVries, previously of chimaira and most recently Six Feet Under, joined the band replacing Byron Stroud. The announcement comes as the band continues work on their upcoming new album, The Industrialist, planned for release early summer of 2012. The album was mixed in Canada by Greg. “Due to reasons well beyond the band’s control,” Fear Factory would not be taking part in 2012’s Summer’s Shockwave Tour, slated to commence on July 6th in Seattle. Voivod had also pulled out. Matt DeVries joined Lamb Of God as a touring member and as a stand-in when that band found itself needing mid-tour. Following the path of other former acts from Roadrunner, Fear Factory also signed a deal with Nuclear Blast Entertainment and Monte Connor and had an album due in early 2015. The band was entering the studio with producer Rhys Fulber. Former Static-X bassist Tony Campos left Soulfly in April of 2015 and decamped to Fear Factory. Campos was also touring with Ministry. Coal Chamber and Fear Factory were touring North America in the summer of 2015. Devil You Know would open. Fear Factory had picked Genexus as the title for its next album, which was out on August 7th through Nuclear Blast’s sub-label, Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Fear Factory was involved in a bus accident early morning of November 25th while en route to the band's show in Munich, Germany during the current European headlining tour. Fear Factory would conduct a U.S tour in March of 2016. Support came from Soilwork. Fear Factory performed its Demanufacture album in its entirety. Fear Factory's Dino Cazares tore a muscle in his right foot following the band's concert in Melbourne, Australia on June 5th. The guitarist was not to put pressure on his foot for two weeks. As a result, Cazares was performing sitting down. Burton C. Bell was part of the touring line-up of Ministry in 2018. Guitarist Dino Cazares and Die Krupps’ singer Jürgen Engler had a new industrial project called Dieklute. Fear Factory picked Monolith as the title for its next album, which was due this year through Nuclear Blast. Dino Cazares told an interviewer in 2020 that Fear Factory had been side-lined for the last three years due to lawsuits. He was likely referring to Wolbers and Herrera.

After some litigation and animosity with Dino Cazares, singer Burton Bell officially packed it up and left in 2020. He focused on Ascension Of The Watchers. Despite the ‘Nuclear Blast Entertainment’ deal of several years back Dino had a GoFundMe for the current album! Fear Factory released its first new song in five years called Disruptor in 2021. The track was off Aggression Continuum, which Nuclear Blast Records would release that year. Fear Factory released Recoded, which was another album of remixes. This one contained remixes from the band's recent Aggression Continuum album. It was out through Nuclear Blast in October. The songs were being remixed by a number of guests.

Fear Factory has re-signed with Nuclear Blast Records. The label’s A&R originally signed the band at Roadrunner Records in 1992. The band was booked for the return of the Milwaukee Metal Fest in 2023. The act announced unknown Italian singer Milo Silvestro as its latest recruit. The man had been rehearsing with the band for months and was to tour with the act immediately. Fear Factory and Static-X were touring North America. Pete Webber of Havok drummed as Mike Heller had a scheduling conflict. In the meanwhile, the band was caught in a storm and had to cancel the first concert of its tour dates. To add even more complexity Fear Factory recruited bassist Alexandro Hernandez of Deathmask for its shows in Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador in May. He was filling in for bassist Tony Campos who had a scheduling conflict and was committed to his main band, Static-X. The band booked a European tour with Butcher Babies and Ignea for the autumn. Fear Factory further recruited Scattered Storm’s Javier Arriaga to play bass on the band’s 2023 tour. The man, who was a roadie for Fear Factory, was filling in for Tony Campos who was on the road with Static-X. Machine Head and Fear Factory were to tour North America in 2024. Orbit Culture and Gates To Hell were slated openers. Kerry King, Avenged Sevenfold, Pantera, Machine Head, Corey Taylor, Biohazard, Fear Factory, Dying Fetus, The Black Dahlia Murder and a bunch of mallcore and rap bands were announced for Download 2024 in the UK. The band was booked at Jakarta, Indonesia’s Hammersonic 2024 festival.

Reviews

FEAR FACTORY - TRANSGRESSION - LIQUID 8
Fear Factory is just too premeditated a band to be taken seriously. The band tries everything to be palatable and trendy. Yet, the vocals are predictable being both trippy and angry; the music is alternately chugging, aggressive and soft and the chords, well, disjointed is the obvious adjective. Guest appearances and a cover version are designed to maximize sales, garner MTV's attention and get a single out, but Transgression is ultimately self-aware, all too mechanical and boring. Once again, heavy metal keeps marching on leaving traitors by the way side.- Ali "The Metallian"

Interviews

Fear Factory