DINO CAZARES On Upcoming FEAR FACTORY Album: 'We're Gonna Keep It Real, Keep It What We Are And Who We Are'

On October 9, 2014, Argentinean rock journalist Lucas H. Gordon conducted an interview with FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares at T.J. Martell Foundation's Rock 'N' Bowl tournament at the PINZ Bowling Center in Studio City, California. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about what FEAR FACTORY is trying to accomplish with its forthcoming album, the band's first since signing with Nuclear Blast Entertainment, Dino said: "It's still just to be who we are. We are 'cyber metal,' whatever you wanna call it, but it's still a lot of the killer riffs, killer double bass, Burt's [Burton C. Bell, singer] beautiful, melodic vocals. Conceptually, it's always still futuristic, man-versus-machine type of thing, but, you know, we thought we're gonna keep it real, keep it what we are and who we are."

Asked about how it feels to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of FEAR FACTORY's classic "Demanufacture" album in 2015 with only two members of the band's classic lineup remaining in the group, Dino said: "The two main members are in the band right now. The soul of the machine is still intact, and that's me and Burton. And I don't think anything has changed, really."

He continued: "Every album we do always has to have something a little different. From the beginning, from the first album, 'Soul Of A New Machine', it was very death metal inspired, [with] a little bit of industrial. The second album, 'Demanufacture', the classic album… Every record changes. 'Obsolete' was a big difference, you know what I mean?! But my right hand is still there, the passion is still there, Burt's killer melodic vocals are still there. So I think that's all that matters."

FEAR FACTORY last year entered NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood, California with longtime producer/collaborator Rhys Fulber and engineer Mike Plotnikoff to begin tracking its new album for a summer 2015 release via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. The CD will be mixed by acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap, who has previously worked with MEGADETH, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, EXODUS, TESTAMENT and ACCEPT, among many others.

Speaking to Silver Tiger Media, Bell stated about the new FEAR FACTORY album: "It's classic FEAR FACTORY sound, the sound that fans have always expected, but I think because we are taking our time, the songs are really well crafted. Without losing the edge or the angst. Without losing the essence of FEAR FACTORY, but they are well-crafted songs. We are working on the album cover right now. We have really connected with artist Dave McKean, who did the album cover for 'Demanufacture' and 'Obsolete'. He is working on something. We have an album title that we are happy with which really represents a good FEAR FACTORY title."

Asked if there is a particular subject focus of the album, Bell said: "It's based on science-fiction, essentially futuristic concepts. It's bringing the concept of man versus machine around again, but this time, the way I'm thinking about the machine is that it's fully cognitive and fully understands where its place is and what it needs to do. So the machine has very human qualities now."

In a separate interview, Cazares spoke about the musical direction of the band's new material. He said: "You do wanna take it to new places, but you never want to take it too far.

"FEAR FACTORY is a band that always been one that experiments a little here and there. From our very first record that came out in 1992, 'Soul Of A New Machine', there was a big jump between that record and 'Demanufacture', and then we just had to take it somewhere different on 'Obsolete' and then we took it somewhere different again on 'Digimortal'. Now when I re-entered the band, we took another big jump and we put out 'Mechanize' and then we kind of wanted to go back a little bit and we did 'The Industrialist'."

Dino added: "Now this record, it's probably going to be somewhere in between 'Demanufacture' and 'Obsolete'. It's got the groovier darker elements of 'Obsolete', but it has the fast riffing and the cold harshness from 'Demanafacture'."

In addition to Cazares and Bell, FEAR FACTORY's current touring lineup features drummer Mike Heller and bassist Matt DeVries.

FEAR FACTORY's latest album, 2012's "The Industrialist", sold 9,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 38 on The Billboard 200 chart.