Fear Factory
Fear Factory | |
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Fear Factory live 2005 |
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General information | |
Genre (s) |
Death Metal , Industrial Metal , Neo-Thrash / Groove Metal |
founding | 1989 (as Ulceration), 1990 (renamed Fear Factory), 2003 |
resolution | 2002 |
Website | fearfactory.com fearfactorymusic.com |
Founding members | |
Burton C. Bell (until 2002, since 2003, also studio keyboard: 1995) | |
Dino Cazares (guitar: until 2002, since 2009, studio bass: 1992, 1995, 2010, 2012, studio drums programming: 2012) | |
Raymond Herrera (until 2002, 2003-2009) | |
Current occupation | |
Guttural vocals, vocals, studio keyboard |
Burton C. Bell (until 2002, since 2003, also studio keyboard: 1995) |
Guitar, studio bass, drum programming |
Dino Cazares (guitar: until 2002, since 2009, studio bass: 1992, 1995, 2010, 2012, studio drums programming: 2012) |
bass |
Tony Campos (since 2015) |
Drums |
Mike Heller (since 2012) |
former members | |
Guitar, bass |
Christian Olde Wolbers (bass: 1993–2003, studio bass: 2004 & 2005, guitar: 2003–2009) |
bass |
Dave Gibney (bass: 1990–1991, studio speech: 2002) |
bass |
Byron Stroud (without studio productions: 2003–2012) |
bass |
Matt DeVries (2012-2015) |
Drums |
Gene Hoglan (2009-2012) |
Live support and session musicians | |
singing |
Gary Numan (studio vocals / speech: 1998) |
guitar |
Logan Mader (studio guitar: 2012) |
bass |
Andy Romero (studio bass: 1991 on a demo, released as concrete demo album 2002) |
bass |
Andrew Shives (live bass: 1991-1993) |
bass |
Billy Gould (studio bass: 2005) |
Keyboard |
Rhys Fulber (studio keyboard: 1995, 1998, 2004, 2010, 2012, tour keyboard: 1995) |
Keyboard |
Reynor Diego (studio keyboard: 1992, 1995, tour keyboard: 1992, 1995) |
Keyboard |
Steve Tushar (live keyboard: 1996–1997, 2004–2005, studio programming: 2004 & 2005) |
DJ |
DJ Zodiac (studio scratching: 1998) |
Keyboard |
John Bechtel (studio keyboard: 2004) |
Drum programming |
John Sankey (studio drum programming: 2012) |
Fear Factory ( English for "fear factory") is an American metal band from Los Angeles . Stylistically, Fear Factory move between Death Metal , Industrial Metal , Neo-Thrash / Groove Metal , Nu Metal and Alternative Metal with electro and noise borrowings, whereby the Death Metal share has been reduced over time.
history
Fear Factory was founded in Los Angeles in 1989 under the name Ulceration by guitarist Dino Cazares and drummer Raymond Herrera and shortly thereafter supplemented by singer Burton C. Bell (ex- Hate Face ). In 1990 the name was changed to Fear Factory.
In 1992 the official debut album Soul of a New Machine appeared with the then bassist Andrew Shives. The album contains heavy metal with death metal influences. The following year Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb ( Front Line Assembly ) remixed some of their tracks for the EP Fear Is the Mindkiller . On tour the band was accompanied by Reynor Diego and Rhys Fulber on keyboards .
In 1994 Fear Factory fired their bassist Andrew Shives because of various differences of opinion and hired the Belgian (Dutch descent) Christian Olde Wolbers. The following year, with the release of the album Demanufacture, the big breakthrough within the metal scene came . Fear Factory collaborated with Rhys Fulber, who enriched the music with samples and steered it towards industrial metal. The successful single and video release Replica became a club hit and was voted the best song of the year by the readers of the German Metal Hammer .
In 1996 Reynor Diego was replaced by Steve Tushar as tour keyboardist. In addition, the songs Demanufacture , Zero Signal and Body Hammer appeared as instrumental versions on the soundtrack for the computer game Carmageddon . Two years after Demanufacture , Fear Factory released another remix album: Remanufacture . This time the existing pieces were remixed by various interpreters, including techno- oriented artists, and Fear Factory remixed individual pieces of their own.
In 1998 the third work Obsolete appeared . The album entered the album Top 100 and achieved gold status in the USA. Various contributions to film soundtracks and an appearance at the Ozzfest in 1999 followed . A cover of Gary Numans Cars became Fear Factory's first radio hit. After a long break, Digimortal appeared in 2001 . The album climbed into the top 20 of the album charts, but was repeatedly criticized by music critics as an ingratiation to Nu Metal , on the musical level there was hardly any news, the collaboration with rapper B-Real hardly met with a positive response.
In early 2002, shortly after the release of their first DVD Digital Connectivity , Burton C. Bell surprisingly left the band due to personal differences. After other members split up from the band in the course of this, Fear Factory officially broke up. In the summer of 2002, Fear Factory's previously unreleased 1991 demo Concrete was released in remastered form and due to the unbroken demand, Roadrunner Records immediately released another album with Hatefiles , which contained all of the band's previously unreleased songs, B-sides and remixes.
But because the band was contractually bound to their record company for another album and new musical projects by the band members would not have been problem-free, the band got back together at the end of 2002 - except for the guitarist Dino Cazares, around whom the previous ones were concerned Quarrels had mainly turned, as it turned out in interviews . They recorded four short demo songs, but they did not meet the label's requirements. The record deal was then dissolved.
The three remaining band members then decided to continue working together for a new record company. Bassist Christian Olde Wolbers took over the guitar in the new formation and Byron Stroud ( Strapping Young Lad ), who was initially only hired for live performances, became the permanent bassist of the group. The first album with the new line-up was called Archetype and was released on April 19, 2004. Music critics certified the band a musical return to their most successful days, but also criticized the musical stagnation again. A year later, even Burton C. Bell spoke of a purely "safety album".
On August 22, 2005, Fear Factory released their sixth full studio album entitled Transgression . On the one hand, there were songs that pursued the typically violent style, on the other hand, the album was peppered with borrowings from rock and alternative and the frequency of screaming singing was reduced in order to give more space to melodic structures. Producer Toby Wright (including Soulfly , Korn , Alice in Chains ) was partly responsible for this change of course , as Fear Factory was the first to accept and implement outside suggestions. The band frankly admitted that they had aimed at possible radio appearances with individual songs and, at the request of the record company, took two cover versions (of U2 and Killing Joke ) with them on the album: I Will Follow and Millennium . As with the previous Archetype , Christian Olde Wolbers played all the guitars and bass, as Byron Stroud was on tour with his other band Strapping Young Lad during the recording . Billy Gould (including Faith No More ), an old friend of the band, could be heard on Echo of My Scream and Supernova .
After a long break, Roadrunner Records announced at the end of April 2009 that the founding members Bell and Cazares had teamed up to "a new form" of Fear Factory. Supported on drums by Gene Hoglan ( Strapping Young Lad , Death , Testament ). Olde Wolbers and Herrera stated that they had not been asked whether they would like to continue to belong to Fear Factory and that they had not given Bell and Cazares any consent that they could again be active under the old band name. The dispute over the owner of the naming rights to Fear Factory will have to be resolved by a US court after a lawsuit brought by Olde Wolbers and Herrera, who founded the band Arkaea in 2008 .
Despite the open legal dispute over the band name, Burton C. Bell confirmed in a telephone interview on the website elsercho.com in October 2009 that he was working on a new Fear Factory album called Mechanize with guitarist Dino Cazares and bassist Byron Stroud . The album was released in February 2010 under the label of Candlelight Records and AFM Records . According to Bell, the sound of the album is somewhere between the Soul of a New Machine and Demanufacture albums .
In February 2012 the band announced that with Matt DeVries (Ex-Six-Feet-Under) a new bassist was joining the band to replace Byron Stroud, who had switched to 3 Inches of Blood . In April 2012, Malignancy drummer Mike Heller could be won for the band.
At the beginning of June 2012 the ninth studio album The Industrialist was released , on which the drums were not recorded but programmed by Dino Cazares and John Sankey. In May 2015, ex- Static-X bassist Tony Campos announced that he had joined the band. Matt DeVries had previously left the band for personal reasons.
On August 7, 2015, a new album called Genexus was released .
style
Fear Factory is characterized by alternating guttural and melodic vocals, which are often (however intentionally) unemotional and sterile and underline the often mechanically cold atmosphere of the albums.
While the first works of the band were clearly to be assigned to Death Metal / Grindcore, the sound of Fear Factory was increasingly enriched by electronic elements from the album Demanufacture onwards, for which producer Rhys Fulber ( Front Line Assembly ) was responsible.
As a representative of the concept album idea, Fear Factory generally pursues the topic of man versus machine in their works . Burton C. Bell said about the 1998 album Obsolete ( Eng .: outdated , uncommon ):
“The concept of this album is that humans are redundant. The idea is still man versus machine - man versus machine of the system - man versus machine of government. Demanufacture told a story, Remanufacture told another chapter of that story, and Obsolete is another part of the Fear Factory concept. We are at a point in history where humans are superfluous. Humans created these machines to make their lives easier, but in the long run they will make them redundant. The machines that man created are now destroying him. Humanity is no longer the most important inhabitant of the earth. "
Discography
Studio albums
year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
1992 |
Soul of a New Machine Roadrunner Records |
- | - | - | - | - |
First published: August 25, 1992
|
1995 |
Demanufacture Roadrunner Records |
DE31 (9 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK27
silver
(2 weeks)UK |
- |
First published: June 13, 1995
Sales: + 60,000 |
1998 |
Obsolete Roadrunner Records |
DE12 (6 weeks) DE |
AT24 (9 weeks) AT |
- |
UK20 (3 weeks) UK |
US77
gold
(9 weeks)US |
First published: July 28, 1998
Sales: + 500,000 |
2001 | Digimortal Roadrunner Records |
DE11 (6 weeks) DE |
AT26 (5 weeks) AT |
CH100 (1 week) CH |
UK24 (4 weeks) UK |
US32 (5 weeks) US |
First published: April 24, 2001
|
2002 | Concrete Roadrunner Records |
- | - | - | - | - |
First published: July 30, 2002
|
2004 | Archetype Liquid 8 |
DE26 (4 weeks) DE |
AT25 (4 weeks) AT |
- |
UK41 (2 weeks) UK |
US30 (5 weeks) US |
First published: April 20, 2004
|
2005 | Transgression Calvin Records |
DE37 (2 weeks) DE |
AT44 (3 weeks) AT |
- |
UK77 (1 week) UK |
US45 (2 weeks) US |
First published: August 23, 2005
|
2010 |
Mechanize Candlelight Records |
DE31 (3 weeks) DE |
AT46 (2 weeks) AT |
CH70 (1 week) CH |
- |
US72 (2 weeks) US |
First published: February 9, 2010
|
2012 |
The Industrialist Candlelight Records |
DE27 (1 week) DE |
AT56 (1 week) AT |
CH44 (1 week) CH |
- |
US38 (2 weeks) US |
First published: June 5, 2012
|
2015 | Genexus Nuclear Blast |
DE17 (2 weeks) DE |
AT25 (2 weeks) AT |
CH18 (1 week) CH |
UK31 (1 week) UK |
US37 (1 week) US |
First published: August 7, 2015
|
Web links
- Official website
- Fear Factory at Allmusic (English)
- Fear Factory at Discogs (English)
- Fear Factory at laut.de
- Fear Factory at MusicBrainz (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fear Factory at Metal Con ( Memento of the original from September 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Allmusic (English)
- ↑ www.allmusic.com: Review Soul of a New Machine by Jason Birchmeier
- ↑ Chronicles of Chaos: Review of "Digimortal", August 2001
- ↑ Blabbermouth: Fear Factory reforms with Dino Cazarez, Burton C. Bell, Gene Hoglan, April 28, 2009
- ^ Metal Hammer UK: "Fear Factory Interview, Part 2", April 27, 2008
- ↑ laut.de: “Fear Factory: Name dispute before court”, June 17, 2009
- ↑ Matt DeVries has joined Fear Factory on bass. DeVries has previously played with Chimaira and Six Feet Under. He replaces Bryon Stroud, who recently left to join 3 Inches of Blood. The band's new album will be released in the early summer.
- ↑ Mike Heller has joined Fear Factory on drums, Heller has previously played with Malignancy and System Divide.
- ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/former-static-x-bassist-tony-campos-exists-soulfly-joins-fear-factory/
- ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/matt-devries-explains-fear-factory-exit/