Fear Factory

Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band that 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 seen frequent changes in its lineup, with lead vocalist Burton C. Bell 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 in 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 by the following year, with Wolbers replacing Cazares on guitar and Byron Stroud handling bass duties. 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 as the replacement of Herrera, and Bell and Stroud reprising their respective roles; this lineup recorded the band's seventh studio album, Mechanize (2010). Wolbers and Herrera—together comprising 50% of the band's legal ownership—disputed the reunited band's legitimacy, and a legal battle began. Despite this, Fear Factory has since released 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.

Fear Factory was formed in 1989 under the name Ulceration, which the band agreed would "just be a cool name". In 1990, the name "Fear the Factory" was adopted. The name was inspired by a factory that the band supposedly saw near their rehearsal space which was guarded by men carrying rifles. Later, they shortened the name to just "Fear Factory".

The band's origins can be traced to an outfit formed by guitarist Dino Cazares—formerly of The Douche Lords—and drummer Raymond Herrera in Los Angeles, California. Their first lineup was completed with the addition of bassist Dave Gibney and vocalist Burton C. Bell (ex-Hate Face), who was allegedly recruited by an impressed Cazares, who overheard him singing "New Year's Day" by U2. Cazares played bass on the first three Fear Factory albums Concrete, Soul of a New Machine and Demanufacture, on which Cazares changed many of the riffs during the recording.

Fear Factory's earliest demo recordings are strongly reminiscent of the early works of Napalm Death and Godflesh, an acknowledged influence of the band in the grindcore-driven approach of the former and the mechanical brutality, bleakness, and vocal stylings of the latter. According to Brian Russ of The BNR Metal Pages, the demos are remarkable for integrating these influences into the band's death metal sound and for Burton C. Bell's pioneering fusion of extreme death growls and clean vocals in the same song, which was to become a significant and influential element of the band's sound throughout their career.^{[failed verification]} The use of grunts and "throat singing" combined with clean vocals later defined the nu metal and other emerging subgenres of metal. Many vocalists in today's metal scene use two or more methods of singing and vocalizing lyrics. The band contributed two songs to the L.A. Death Metal Compilation in 1990. The band played its first show on October 31, 1990.

In 1991, Fear Factory recorded a series of cuts with producer Ross Robinson in Blackie Lawless's studio. Afterward, the band members was unhappy with the terms of their recording contract, and they refused to sign. The band retained the rights to the songs, many of which they re-recorded in 1992 with a different producer, Colin Richardson, for inclusion on their debut release Soul of a New Machine. Meanwhile, Ross Robinson obtained the rights to the recording, which he used to promote himself as a producer. The album was released in 2002 by Roadrunner Records under the title Concrete after the band's breakup. The release was controversial because the album was issued without the approval of Fear Factory. Robinson ended up suing the band, which Bell jokingly said in 2021 that it was foreshadowing "the entire career of Fear Factory." Concrete is viewed by the band as a demo; a developmental step toward Soul of a New Machine.