Artist: Fear Factory
Formed: 1990
Origin: Los Angeles, USA
Type Of Music: Techno/Metal
Overview:
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.
Soul Of A New Machine FF Press Bio
"I have seen the future of death metal, and it's name
is Fear Factory" - Max Cavalera, Sepultura
Los Angeles extremists Fear Factory unveil their
acclaimed debut, Soul Of A New Machine.
Soul... is a difficult album to categorize, since it
touches on so many different genres of music.
Although the band has been labeled everything from
death metal to industrial, Fear Factory describe
themselves as 'extreme alternative'. Combining
experiments with progressive sounds and ideas with
a brutal music attack, the band mines territories of
music never approached before. It's this explosion of
sound that has the Fear Factory buzz already
spreading throughout the industry. Here's what
people are saying:
"Brutal industrial strength mayhem" - Jim Martin, Faith
No More
"Over The Top!" - Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys
"Fear Factory's Soul Of A New Machine is probably
the genres strongest release since Sepultura's
Beneath The Remains. Fear Factory are gods." -
Scott Burns, famed death metal producer.
Demanufacture FF Press Bio
Born in October, 1990, Fear Factory understands
only too well what "fear" is all about. Los Angeles, the
band's hometown, is not a place for the feint. "Some
guy once pulled a gun on me in a restaurant because
he thought I was looking at him funny!" - Dino
Cazares.
Incidents like this, the breakdown of "civilized"
society, and the boundaries that people cross every
single day, have made Fear Factory's dissonant cries
jarring aural signposts of the modern age.
Demanufacture, recorded by Colin Richardson with
the engineering/mixing help of Front Line Assembly's
Rhys Fulber (with Greg Reely assisting), shows
versatile brutality and a set of songs to chill. Fear
Factory want you to know what it means:
‘A soundtrack for an anonymous person struggling to
exist in a world where the sense of individuality is
unacceptable... even taboo. A soundtrack for an
anonymous person who is sick and tired of
government lying to everyone when government
conspiracy is a way of life. A soundtrack to
spearhead the resistance and create a new society.'
This album is a collection of songs which involves
YOU as a central conceptual character in aworld
where your anonymous leader is simply trying to
survive. "Demanufacture," the title song, sets the
mood of the record.
A vicious and unrelenting anthem in which the main
character finally puts their foot down and will accept
no more bullshit from every day life. "New Breed" is
Fear Factory fighting, showing that there will be
change, that there has to be a new destiny, that there
will be a new future. "Body Hammer" describes the
anger of the new leader, who will stop short of
nothing to declare and implement the necessary
changes in bringing about the demise of a fucked up
society. "Flashpoint" shows that we can all face up o
our past, that it is perhaps better to purge ourselves
of past lies and actions, that there can be happiness
and joy found in the establishment of a clean slate.
Demanufacture unfolds yet further, detailing a cold,
aggressive and vital time when one new leader
struggles to establish a new way. It is a product of
vision and fear, and everyday intensities that push
Fear Factory beyond the boundaries of normal, daily
stress and thought.
For Fear Factory, the chill runs deep during studio
work, their own fears and worries doubling under the
pressure of production. It gives them an edge. "We're
fearful and paranoid of putting out a bad record,"
says Dino. "A bad record to us would be one that isn't
tightly played, isn't well worked out. If there's any
room for human error, it's ever-so-slight, which is why
computers are a big comfort zone, because of their
accuracy."
Fear Factory, as you have doubtlessly gathered,
embrace technology warmly. "Computers are the
wave of the future," Dino states. "We recorded half of
the album using computer technology and it was
great, we loved it.
Next time around we'll probably do our entire record
on computers. What we really like about machines,
computers, all that sort of equipment is the cold
harshness of the sound it generates. Multiple tracking
on the guitars, sampled and then quadrupled put into
the computer with the drum tracks really gives it a
cold, hard feel; the really abrasive, brittle sound we
like."
Living in Los Angeles has left Fear Factory open to
potentially great physical harm on many occasion.
That manifests itself into studio-contained
aggression, that being another key element to
Demanufacture. "Agression is the main emotion we
feel while we're recording," Burton explains. "It's like
living in a melting pot like L.A., there's a lot of stress
involved and our lives in general always happen to
see stress channeled into work.
Tension's everywhere. Dino was at the Whiskey in
L.A. buying a drink for himself and this girl when
some guy bumped his arm. Dino spilled the beer he
just bought, a four dollar Bud! So he said,"Hey you
just bumped me and spilled my beer," and the guy
just looked at Dino and said, "So fucking what!" Dino
told him that maybe he could help pay for another
and he just said, "You know what? Fuck you! I could
shoot you right now, blast you right here," and he
pulled this gun out and started waving it at Dino! Dino
could've died over a Budweiser!"
Expect to see and hear Demanufacture all over the
world. Fear Factory have toured with the likes of
Sepultura, Biohazard, Megadeth, Korn, and most
recently Iron Maiden, everywhere from Europe to
Australia to Mexico and, of course, extensively in
America. This year will see Fear Factory spread out
even further to more distant corers of the globe.
For all the terror to be found in Los Angeles, Fear F
actory wouldn't enjoy paradise anybetter. At the end
of their travels every time, all roads lead to Los
Angeles. "There's the other side, paradise, like
Australia, which is great.
But we really couldn't be there because there's no
gangs, no cops pullin' you over, no tension. Over
there we'd be too comfortable, we'd want something
to happen, we'd have to create something. It's like a
sickness, An addiction."
