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| Birth Name(s) : Burton Bell, Raymond Herrera, Christian Olde Wolbers |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Musician |
Official Site
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Full Fear Factory Biography
Describing themselves as extreme alternative, Fear Factory have been crushing the barriers between alternative, dance, industrial and metal since their earliest beginnings.
Venting their frustrations through a gridlock of crunching riffs and barbarous electronics, Fear Factory have successfully experimented with formats and generic styles, even producing an EP made up entirely of remixed tracks from a previous full-length.
The band's almost scientific view of society adds the final brutal edge of reality to the bulk of their material, a factor that has seen Fear Factory become an innovator not only of styles but entire musical movements.
Constant touring has solidified a passionately faithful and ever expanding fan base. Always cutting edge, there isn't a restriction Fear Factory can't smash, overcome and make their own. |
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Additional Fear Factory Biography
Fear Factory is a Los Angeles, California based metal band. They formed in 1990 and have since released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes, over the course of which they have evolved from a succession of, as well as steadily pioneered a hybrid of, the styles of death metal, industrial metal, groove metal and alternative metal; the resultant techniques in sound and vocal styles proving to be enormously influential on the extreme metal scene from the mid-90s and onwards. Fear Factory is also notable among metal bands for their heavy use of science fiction elements in their songs and concept albums. Their most recent album, Transgression, described as a more experimental and atypical effort, has also contained elements of pop music and progressive metal.
Fear Factory had disbanded in March 2002 following some internal disputes, but they reformed later that year minus founding member Dino Cazares and with the addition of live bassist, Byron Stroud.
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 nü metal explosion of the mid-late 90s 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 band’s sound, with the finished product favoring a more straight-up brutal approach and Robinson’s distinct drum sound, the “secret” album has nevertheless become an important document 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.
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 song "Zero Signal" was featured on the Mortal Kombat film soundtrack in 1995. Instrumental versions of Demanufacture songs were later used in the Carmageddon video game for the PC.
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. The video is not generally seen as exceptionally well put together.
Over time, it emerged that the rift between the members was largely between the guitarist Dino Cazares and the other members, particularly Bell.
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.
Fear Factory's eighth studio album will be produced by the band. Bell has confirmed that Fear Factory has recently parted ways with Liquid 8 Records and it is currently unclear which label the new album will be released on.
The band has often been called a "stepping stone" leading mainstream listeners to venture into less-known/more extreme bands, and are consistently appreciated.
In 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 in the liner notes. 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.
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'”. |
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