FAUX FACTORY
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 9:40am by Axl Rosenberg.jpg)
I was never a big Fear Factory person so someone please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but did anyone ever really care about any of the members of that band who weren’t Burton C. Bell or Dino Cazares?
I ask because after about a year of speculation that the original Factory would be reuniting, it’s been announced that, yes, Bell and Cazares will now be working together again – but as a new band with a different, still to be determined name.
The dumbest part of not calling it Fear Factory, which everyone will probably call it anyway: while drummer Raymond Herrera is somehow not involved in the project, Byron Stroud, who has played bass with the group since 2003 (but, interestingly enough, never played with the band while Cazares was still a member), will also be in The Bell-Cazares Experience.
I don’t know why Herrera isn’t involved. I’ve always heard that there was a lot of bad blood between Dino and the rest of the band; maybe Herrera just couldn’t move past that for the sake of a paycheck. Or maybe he wasn’t even invited.
In any case, it looks like the legendary Gene Hoglan will be taking Herrera’s place in Fear Factory Mach 2, and it’s hard to get too upset about that.
Now, Dino’s other band, Divine Heresy, have a new album coming out on July 28, Bringer of Plagues. Allegedly Divine Heresy is “unaffected” by this non-reunion, but if I were Tim Yeung or Joe Payne, I’d start looking for a new job right about now.
Anyway, more news about Not Fear Factory’s debut album, Souless Old Machine, as soon as we get it.
-AR
Yeah, I thought this was weird especially since there was talk not too long ago that Fear Factory were working on a new album. But no matter what this thing is called, it’ll probably still sound like Fear Factory since everything else these guys do outside of Fear Factory still sounds somewhat like Fear Factory.
Divine Heresy sounds like Fear Factory with a different singer and guitar solos.
Ascension of the Watchers sounds like Fear Factory without distorted guitars.
Arkea or however you spell it (Christian and Ray’s new band) will probably sound like Fear Factory.
Even Post-Dino Fear Factory still sounds pretty damn close to Fear Factory, despite the fact that Dino gives himself a lot of credit for the band’s sound.
So I say, bring Dino back into Fear Factory and have them put out a new goddamn album already. Transgression was really fucking disappointing but I think Fear Factory has at least one more amazing album left in them.
I saw them (FF) a few years ago and they fucked up Demanufacture. The one song everyone wanted to hear and they (really just Burton) fucked up by being one beat off from the music. It sounded like a weird art project. Not sure what my point is.
I am a big fan of their music, but no I only ever cared about Burton and Herrera as the drummer. The bass drums playing in time with the guitar riffs is what I love most about this band.
The last time I saw them live was right before Archetype came out and they sang Cyberwaste live. That was fantastic! They also played Demanufacture and it was a great performance. Burton was great that night.
They should call the project Fear of the Young Lad’s Factory.
I actually really liked Fear Factory. This is amazing news to me. I like Raymond, but if anyone is to replace him, Gene is the best one to do it.
ascension of the watchers doesnt sound anything like FF
I’m pretty sure Raymond and Christian aren’t involved with this because of their Arkaea project, though last time I checked that project’s been going on forever, so it’s anyone’s guess as to when the damn album’s actually gonna come out.
I definitely think a full-on Fear Factory reunion is gonna be up once all the side-project BS is done with, though I wonder if maybe they’ll re-form with both Dino and Christian playing guitar and keep Byron on bass. That’d be pretty wicked.
I predict that, while this project won’t be better than Fear Factory, it will certainly outdo Divine Heresy. Whether or not that’s really saying much, however, is up for debate.
That is really cool news.I’m surprised Burton and Dino can put their differences aside since Dino was still talking shit in 2007 and Burton acknowledged that they just couldn’t click anymore. Tough for Ray and Christian, but reuniting Byron and Gene is something very cool to have going on. Very interested in hearing the final product of this collaboration, regardless of how generic it may be.
I guarantee that once this new project is met with apathy, they’ll announce a Fear Factory reunion and do a full world tour around it. Once that is done, they’ll sign to Trustkill or Koch and release a new album.
Since the news about the fight on stage at some concert, I haven’t heard a damned thing anywhere about Divine Heresy.
I thought Bell said a while back he wasn’t interested in FF because they weren’t really what he liked doing, and he was going to focus on his existential solo stuff more? Feh.
If Gene Hoglan weren’t the guy replacing Ray, then I’d have no interest in this since Ray Herrera is one of the most underrated drummers of all time (alongside Anders Jivarp).
Still looking forward to the Arkea album that was supposed to have come out a month ago.
Yes, I cared about Raymond Herrera, he is a fantastic drummer. Although if anyone is going to fill his shoes, Gene Hoglan is more than able to.
I cared about Dino and Christian when they were on 3 Dollar Bill Y’all. Easily their best output to date.
Raymond Herrera’s drumming style is quite unique and a vital part of Fear Factory’s sound (and was always a big part in the songwriting), to me it’s not FF without him. However, equally important is Dino Cazares’ riff style, but him leaving the band in 2002 didn’t stop them from putting out two albums under the FF moniker, and as expected, those albums sounds like a completely different band (save for maybe Slave Labor and a couple of others). Gene Hoglan is of course an excellent drummer and yea this has my attention, but any similarities to FF this band may come to have will probably be superficial at most.
The Arkaea album was delayed due to the longer than expected recording process. Album is done, just a matter of a release date now.
It’s a pity that Fear Factory just can’t reunite. I think the only way it would ever happen is with the Archetype/Transgression line-up which would be fine by me, but I can’t ever see it happening now. Of interest, Fear Factory’s Myspace page last year had the message “New album and world tour in 2009″ but that was removed several months ago.
This is awesome news. I’ve been a huge FF fan since Demanufacture. I saw them on Ozzfest several years ago and they were fantastic. FF without Dino hasn’t been quite the same but not bad eiher. I’m more than just a little surprised since Burton pretty much wrote Cyberwaste about Dino so much so the song could have been called “F U Dino”. I’m glad Dino is back but I wish Christian & Ray were coming along for the ride.
I would be pretty excited about all of this if not for one thing: I don’t think Burton has “the metal” in him anymore. The heavy vocals on Transgression sounded very half-hearted, though that could just be the shitty production (which was really the main drawback of that album).
Either way, Cazares still has some street cred left, while Christian is still stuck in his nu-metal daydream, with Raymond following him. So all in all – good for Burton.
Not Fear Factory: that’s a good one!
Being a (sorta old) drummer from Vancouver, I am SOOO tired of people making Gene Hog-Land out to be some kind of Uber Drum God.
There are 100’s of other drummers out there that eat that guy for an after-fuck snack.
But; I would be stoked if FF lost that goddamned keyboard action and scored Herrera. I’ve always hated that about FF, cool git riffin on the intro and verse… THEN they shit the bed with washes of mediocre 80’s keyboards.
I should also mention that Burton killed on the Roadrunner All Star thing; is that a sign of what’s to come?
PS: I love Asesino; I need more please.
Fear Factory has disapointed me live since they toured Oz for Digimortal. Burt was overweight, off key and disinterested and the rest of the band dirged through the various sets. This was made even more obvious after seeing Devildriver come out before and put on an amazingly energetic set that burried FF as the headliner.
I haven’t really liked FF since Digimortal, personally, but this sounds like it could have potential. I mean, Gene Hoglan is the man.
I’d rather have a new SYL album, but that’s not going to happen.
From everything I have heard and read, Dino is a huge (literally and figuratively) dickhead; all he does is cause turmoil within bands and want to control everything. I guess people love his guitar playing, because they still work with him regardless of his shit attitude (personally I think he is good, but overrated).
to answer the question if anyone cared about the members that werent cazarez or bell..umm, YES. RAY HERRERA is a kick ass drummer, one of the 1st metal drummers to popularize triggers, especially for double bass. He kicks ass and so does fear factory. edgecrusher,baby,edgecrusher.
obsolete is my favorite, then archtype, then demanufacture. i heard some transgression off youtube, and it was stale…how come older, awsome metal bands like FF and SEPULTURA do this? they get into some drama, break up, half continue under the name, and everyone gets involved in sub-par side projects…im just sad i didnt get to see either band in their hatday. Obsolete and CHAOS A.D. changed my view of music…fucking brilliant.
also….VIVA MEXICO CABRONE!!! brujeria y asesino !!!!!!!!!!!! good shit
The true test of a metal band is how bad ass the combined personalities are…and TRULY bad ass, not a pose.
These 4 guys are bad ass. A hard group to deny the full rider.