Fear Factory
Fear Factory is a Los Angeles, California-based death metal/industrial quartet fronted by co-founder and self-styled 'Dry Lung Vocal Martyr' Burton C. Bell.
Biography
Fear Factory was formed in 1990 in Los Angeles. Characterised by a mix of hardcore guitar riffs, roaring vocals, pulse driving drum beats, and powerful basslines, Fear Factory has been making waves in the American death/industrial metal scene since their debut album, Soul of a New Machine (1992). The following year, they hired Front Line Assembly member Rhys Fulber to remix some songs to create Fear is the Mindkiller (1993). In 1994, bassist Andrew Shives left the band. In the same year, bassist Christian Olde Wolbers met the band whilst vacationing in LA and agreed to assist them with their next recording, Demanufacture (1995), which went on to become a hugely successful album. Fear Factory spent the next few years touring with such bands as Black Sabbath, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden. The band released a new album composed of Demanufacture remixes called Remanufacture in May 1997, closely followed in July 1998 by their new album, Obsolete, cancelling an appearance at the Dynamo Open Air Festival to finish completion of the album sooner. Wasting no time, they hit the road with Slayer and then began another tour with Rammstein.
Proponents of the concept album, Fear Factory have explored the idea of "Man versus Machine" throughout their work. Concerning their latest album, lead singer Burton C. Bell explained:
- "The concept of this record is that man is obsolete.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 We're up to the point in the story where man is obsolete.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."
The band started to build success on the album charts. Soul of a New Machine failed to chart anywhere. Demanufacture made the top 10 of the Billboard Heatseekers charts looking at bands seeking to build a name for themselves. Remanufacture made the Billboard 200 album charts as well as the Heatseekers Chart in 1997. Obsolete reached the top 100 on the Billboard charts and spawned a couple of songs that made the Mainstream Rock Top 40 in 1999 in "Cars" and "Descent". In 2001, Digimortal made the top 40 on the Billboard album charts, the top 20 in Canada and the top 50 of the Australian album charts. "Linchpin" off the album again reached the Mainstream Rock Top 40.
Following some personal differences between band members, Bell announced his exit in March 2002, and the band disbanded immediately thereafter. However, the band reformed later that year minus guitarist Dino Cazares, bassist Christian Olde Wolbers took over guitar duties and they hired Byron Stroud on bass, currently bassist of the band Strapping Young Lad and Zimmer's Hole. The new lineup's first album Archetype was released in spring 2004 on a new record label Liquid 8 based in Minnesota
Band Members
Current Bandmembers
- Burton C. Bell - vocals
- Christian Olde Wolbers - lead guitar
- Raymond Herrera - drums
- Byron Stroud - bass
Previous Bandmembers
- Andrew Shives - bass (1992-1994)
- Dino Cazares - lead guitar (1992-2002)
Discography
- Soul of a New Machine (1992)
- Fear is the Mindkiller (EP) (1993)
- Demanufacture (1995)
- Remanufacture - Cloning Technology (1997)
- Obsolete (1998)
- Obsolete - Digipack (1998)
- Digimortal (2001)
- Digimortal - Digipack (2001)
- Concrete (2002)
- Hatefiles (2003)
- Archetype (2004)