Short Biography
Burton C Bell: Vocals
Dino Cazares: Guitars
Byron Stroud: Bass
Gene Hoglan: Drums
Candlelight Records today confirms 9 February as the American release date for Mechanize, the seventh studio album from Fear Factory. Mechanize features the highly reported reconciliation of vocalist Burton C. Bell with original guitarist Dino Cazares along with bassist Byron Stroud and journeyman drummer Gene Hoglan (Dethklok, Strapping Young Lad). The anticipated album also welcomes back keyboardist/producer Rhys Fulber (Front Line Assembly).
Mechanize is a full-fisted blast of passion and innovation that sounds like the missing link between 1995's groundbreaking Dem...
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Short Biography
Burton C Bell: Vocals
Dino Cazares: Guitars
Byron Stroud: Bass
Gene Hoglan: Drums
Candlelight Records today confirms 9 February as the American release date for Mechanize, the seventh studio album from Fear Factory. Mechanize features the highly reported reconciliation of vocalist Burton C. Bell with original guitarist Dino Cazares along with bassist Byron Stroud and journeyman drummer Gene Hoglan (Dethklok, Strapping Young Lad). The anticipated album also welcomes back keyboardist/producer Rhys Fulber (Front Line Assembly).
Mechanize is a full-fisted blast of passion and innovation that sounds like the missing link between 1995's groundbreaking Demanufacture and 1998's more texturally nuanced Obsolete. Songs like "Industrial Discipline" and "Powershifter" are crushing and colossal, melding fast and precise rhythms with vocals that pinwheel from raw and scathing to hauntingly melodic while "Fear Campaign," which features harrowing spoken word passages, quickly segues into a showcase of punishing beats, rapid-fire riffs and ghostly keyboards. For the first time in years, the band's industrial roots glimmer through its street-lethal metal, thanks in part to Fulber, who worked on Fear Factory's popular industrial remix albums Fear is the Mindkiller and Remanufacture.
In-depth Biography
Fear Factory was one of the first bands to fuse the loud, crushing intensity of death metal with the cold harshness of industrial electronics and samples, producing a more varied sonic palette with which to express their bleak, pessimistic view of modern, technology-driven society. The group was formed in Los Angeles in 1990 by vocalist Burton C. Bell (formerly of Hate Face), percussionist Raymond Herrera, and guitarist and ex-Douche Lord Dino Cazares. Following their contribution of two tracks to the L.A. Death Metal compilation, Fear Factory signed to Roadrunner Records and released their debut album, Soul of a New Machine, in 1992, which featured new bass player Andrew Shives, added to allow Cazares to play guitar on tour. The following year's Fear Is the Mind Killer EP showed Fear Factory's willingness to experiment with their music and broaden its scope by placing tracks from their debut in the hands of remixers Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb of Front Line Assembly; the EP also marked the debut of keyboardist Reynor Diego, who along with Fulber joined the band as a touring keyboardist. Shives was fired in 1994 and replaced by Christian Olde Wolbers. In 1995, Fear Factory released its second full-length album of new material, Demanufacture; it was followed two years later by another remix project, Remanufacture (Cloning Technology), which this time featured contributions from a number of different remixers, including many techno-oriented artists, as well as more input from Fear Factory themselves. Steve Tushar replaced Diego in 1996. The members of the band have performed in a number of side projects, the most notable of which is Cazares' and Herrera's Brujeria; others include G/Z/R (Bell) and Nailbomb (Cazares). Fear Factory reconvened in 1998 for Obsolete, a record that found the band's well-established style fitting seamlessly into the growing alternative metal boom. As such, it became the band's biggest hit yet, hitting the Top 100 on the album charts. Fear Factory's profile was further boosted by appearances on several film soundtracks and on the 1999 Ozzfest tour. Their next album, 2001's Digimortal, entered the charts in the Top 40, but by the next year vocalist Bell decided to leave the band. Cazares was the one who eventually left the band, however, while Wolbers moved to guitar and Byron Stroud (Strapping Young Lad) was hired for the bass spot. Amidst the lineup changes, Roadrunner dropped the band and, in 2002, issued their original 1991 recordings on the compilation Concrete. Fear Factory moved to Liquid 8 for 2004's Archetype. The equally merciless Transgression followed in August 2005. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
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