Fear Factory

Industrial metal
Death metal
Metal
Alternative metal
Groove metal
Industrial
Industrial groove metal

Members : Dino Cazares · Matt DeVries · Mike Heller · Tony Campos · Milo Silvestro

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Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. It has released ten full-length albums and evolved through a succession of sounds, all in its main style of industrial metal. Over the years, the band has undergone frequent changes in its lineup. Lead vocalist Burton C. Bell was the only consistent member for 31 years until his departure in 2020. Guitarist Dino Cazares is the only remaining original member in Fear Factory's current lineup, after a seven-year sabbatical from the band between 2002 and 2009. The current lineup of Fear Factory consists of Cazares, bassist Tony Campos, vocalist Milo Silvestro and drummer Pete Webber.

Signing to Roadrunner Records in 1991, Fear Factory released their debut album, Soul of a New Machine, the following year. It became an underground success and earned the band a following through touring. After cycling through a few member changes, the "classic" lineup was formed in 1994, with Bell, Cazares and founding drummer Raymond Herrera joined by bassist Christian Olde Wolbers. This lineup recorded three albums, including the breakthroughs Demanufacture (1995) and Obsolete (1998). Both albums, along with worldwide tours, established Fear Factory's reputation as one of the most acclaimed metal bands of the mid-to-late 1990s. The fourth album, and last recorded with the "classic" lineup, Digimortal (2001), failed to match the success of its predecessors.

In March 2002, Fear Factory broke up due to internal disputes, but reformed the following year, with Wolbers replacing Cazares on guitar and Byron Stroud on bass. Two more albums, Archetype (2004) and Transgression (2005), were released before the band went back on hiatus in 2006. Fear Factory reunited in 2009 with a new lineup that featured Cazares, Gene Hoglan replacing Herrera, and Bell and Stroud reprising their respective roles. This lineup recorded the band's seventh studio album, Mechanize (2010). Wolbers and Herrera, comprising 50% of the band's legal ownership, disputed the reunited band's legitimacy, and a legal battle began. In spite of this, Fear Factory has since released three more albums: The Industrialist (2012), Genexus (2015), and Aggression Continuum (2021).

Fear Factory has performed at Ozzfest four times and the inaugural Gigantour. Its singles have charted on the US Mainstream Rock Top 40 and albums on the Billboard Top 40, 100, and 200. It has sold more than a million albums in the U.S. alone.

Bio from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0, via So Many Bands · ↗