Fear Factory: A System Reset
Any metalhead that has been on social media in the past few years has undoubtedly been caught in the middle of one of metal’s most turbulent and vitriolic breakups of the past decade. FEAR FACTORY, one of the longest running and most influential industrial metal bands of all time, has had a history filled with tumult and hard feelings, with lead vocalist Burton C. Bell leaving the band after a high water mark in the band’s popularity with the release of 2001’s Digimortal. The band dissolved shortly after, beginning the near endless cycle of tension between Bell and co-founder and lead guitarist/songwriter Dino Cazares.
After years of break ups and make ups and reformations and deconstructions, Bell has seemingly quit the band for good, leaving the future of the monolithic band uncertain. That was until the announcement of the band’s tenth record, Aggression Continuum, which would indeed feature the last contributions Bell would make to the band. Cazares, after a long legal battle to regain control of the FEAR FACTORY name, finally won back the rights and decided to move ahead with the new record and put it out to the standards the band is known for. But it wasn’t an easy road.
“I felt helpless,” says Cazares. “In between 2017 and 2020, I had no control of this record at all. It was shelved at the Nuclear Blast offices and we had no idea whether it was going to be a FEAR FACTORY record or anything. At the same time, I was just trying to survive the legal issues going on, which financially broke me and I ended up getting a divorce from all the stress in my relationship.”
This was a true album of reinvention and new beginnings for Cazares. Aggression Continuum is a record that capitalises on the breadth of emotions that surrounded the past three years with the band. There a sense of lushness amidst the cold calculation and machine like precision that has become the hallmark of a FEAR FACTORY record. Songs like Fuel Injected Suicide Machine feature some of the most dense orchestral elements of the band’s career, thanks in part to the collaboration with former YES keyboardist Igor Khoroshev. There is a grandiosity to this new effort, and Cazares says all of these elements are no accident.
“When I regained the rights to the FEAR FACTORY name, that was a very emotional time for me; that was the turning point on this record. Having the GoFundMe be successful and getting Andy Sneap to mix the record, all I could think was ‘oh my God we did it.’ But I still have that PTSD behind me, which turned into ‘Post Traumatic Singer Disorder’ when your singer of 30 years decides to quit the band. All of this played a huge role in the sound of the music, the vibe, the attitude of this record. It really is surprising that we put out such a great record with everything going on.”
Those aforementioned keyboards were part of an even more conscious effort from Cazares lean into the contrast between aggressive and melodic, which has never been a problem in FEAR FACTORY‘s discography. But on top of this sense of heightened contrasts, Cazares explains that, despite years of honing a signature guitar attack synonymous with his name, there was still room to play and exploit the chaos of the situation around him in his playing. “I really learned to channel my emotions into the music on this record,” he says. “Whether it’s melodic or brutal as fuck, I’m learning new feelings on the riffs I write. For instance, I didn’t do a lot of bends before, but on this record there are a lot of bends because they meshed with how I was feeling, and that led to me wanting to go even more extreme on the contrast between heavy and melodic. On a song like Recode, the keyboards build the tension and working with Igor really elevated those parts. Those dynamics and nuances are what’s really cool about this record.”
Change and discovery are massive themes throughout the band’s career, particularly on this record, and striking a balance between surgically heavy and waves of melody is not an easy task for any songwriter, even the most experienced. Cazares seems to know that he always had an innate sense for melody and structure, even at a young age, and even more so when FEAR FACTORY was in its infancy, and it’s a skill that has only been bolstered by both the drive and necessity to create new projects.
“You never stop learning,” says Cazares. “I’ve always had a melodic sense from the beginning of my career because I’ve always been into melodic music since I was a kid. When I was 18, I went to join a band and they said I was too melodic. I still see them and one guy in the band still shakes his head and says ‘man, I fucked up,’” he laughs. “I’ve carried that through my whole career, jamming with other people and collaborating really teaches you, because everyone has a different perspective on music. Even talking to fans inspires me from how they see music.”
Needless to say, Cazares has been party to more change in his bands than most musicians face during the course of their careers, but the journey throughout not his musical life, but his personal life has been a guide to adapting and shaping Aggression Continuum, especially the emotional undercurrent that permeates the runtime. It’s hard not to feel the emotional tension and release of the record with Cazares‘ sawblade guitars slicing one way and Bell‘s one two punch of throat shredding harsh vocals and sweeping cleans. It’s the last dance of a duo that have had one of the most contentious histories in metal, yet left one of the most indelible marks on the genre that has inspired countless young bands to follow in their footsteps. But this is not the closing of a chapter for FEAR FACTORY. Rather, it’s a twist in the story that leads to uncharted territory; exciting parts unknown with fans in tow.
“The only chapter that’s closed is the singer chapter,” reinforces Cazares. “Because I’m going to continue the tradition of writing these FEAR FACTORY songs. Sure, when we announce a new singer they’re going to bring their own identity and elements into the music, but this person could be amazing and take it to melodic places I’ve never taken it too. I’m very excited to make that final decision. But I’ve been trying to get people prepared and used to the fact that there’s a new singer coming. People are still grieving and voicing their opinion, and I have no issue with that.”
Aggression Continuum feels like the exhale at the end of a long held breath for Cazares, and with so much back and forth from both himself and Bell in the past year, it can be hard to even know what to think with a record written and released under these circumstances. But with the praise the record is receiving across the board, and the sheer magnitude of production and effort put in to just get the record released and polished in its final form, Cazares can’t help but feel that this is just another lesson in persistence, proof, and belief in oneself.
“I always try to write my records like it’s the last one. I have to prove something, and I feel that way in every project I’m in,” he says. “Not only do I have to prove it to myself, but also to everyone who’s listening. I can’t fear what someone says if they don’t like it. I had to prove myself in DIVINE HERESY when I was out of FEAR FACTORY in 2002, and and that’s where I’m at right now: proving myself with a new singer. It’s going to be fucking amazing. Nobody died, and I’m going to pick a singer that’s going to open the doors. People may not like it but I can’t worry about that. I take that chance on every record.”
And at the end, it feels like Cazares has finally reached a state of grace when it comes to the years upon years of vitriol and infighting. Perhaps it’s this lesson that will only serve to forge this machine in a new hardened steel of clearheadedness and focus as it churns to new horizons. “Not every relationship is meant to last. You’re not going to find your soulmate in every band,” explains Cazares. “People change, life changes, and some people don’t or can’t change in their own lives. But all of this is worth it to me. This is what I choose to do, creating music that makes people happy.”
Aggression Continuum is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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