DINO CAZARES Says New FEAR FACTORY Singer Is 36 Years Old And 'Basically Unknown'

In a brand new interview with the "Everblack" podcast, FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares once again opened up about his band's search for a new vocalist following the departure of Burton C. Bell more than two years ago. Regarding the decision to keep the new singer's identity a secret for so long, he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The thing about it is everybody's expecting it to be this massive rock star dude coming in. But it's not that at all. The guy is basically kind of unknown. There are some FEAR FACTORY fans that kind of know who it is, but they don't really know yet. He's a super-talented guy. He sounds like the classic Burton from the 'Demanufacture'/'Obsolete' era. He's a younger guy — 36 years old. Compared to me, he's younger."

In a separate chat with the "Fantasm" podcast, Dino reflected on the FEAR FACTORY singer search, saying: "It's very challenging to try to find somebody. It took me a year. People think that the minute that [Burton] was out of the band that I found somebody right away. No — it took a good year or so to find somebody. And I auditioned a lot of people. A lot of people submitted their vocals, video tryouts for me to check out. There was a lot of great singers, there was a lot of good guys, so it was hard to find somebody… Very challenging. And I know there's gonna be a lot of challenges coming up. It always is that way. But, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I think we found a really good guy. I can't wait for the world to see who he is and move forward."

Last month, Dino told the "Everblack" podcast about the qualities he was looking for in the new FEAR FACTORY singer: "You want a person who's gonna be able to respect the legacy that we started 32 years ago. And so you want that person to be able to sing those parts as they were meant to be. But moving forward with newer stuff, he's gotta somewhat have his own identity."

Cazares also confirmed that he and the new FEAR FACTORY vocalist have begun work on material for the follow-up to 2021's "Aggression Continuum" album.

"It's going great," he said. "We just started pre-production, so we just started writing. We're about four songs in. So it's great. Everything's flowing really good. We've been working on it for about two and a half weeks. This writing so far has been pretty exciting. The four tracks that we do have… I don't know how to say it — it's classic stuff."

In September, Cazares told "The Jasta Show" that FEAR FACTORY fans will have to wait a few more months to find out the identity of his band's new singer.

"FEAR FACTORY singer and music will be coming just before the [group's North American] tour with STATIC-X," he said. "End of February is the first show, so just before that we'll be releasing the single and the singer. And then boom — right on the road."

This past February, former NIGHTRAGE singer Antony Hämäläinen, who unsuccessfully auditioned for the vocalist slot in FEAR FACTORY, claimed in an interview that the new FF frontman is "a person from Italy."

In April, Dino told "The Garza Podcast" that the new FEAR FACTORY singer is emotionally ready to handle the inevitable pushback from some fans that he will get once his identity has been revealed. "I think that they're ready," he said. "When it comes to talent, they're very ready. But 'tour ready' is completely different. Let's hope that… Well, the person that we have has done some touring, but not touring like we do touring. Like, a full U.S. tour can be anywhere from four weeks to six weeks to whatever, then you fly over to Europe and do another four to five weeks, come back to the States, do another tour, then you go to South America and do another few weeks there, then you go to Australia and do another few weeks there, and then you plan for next year. I think one of the other things, too, is when this person is announced, they're gonna have to be able to handle all the criticism. That's gonna be the hard part. 'Well, it didn't sound like Burt.' Well, of course not. I want this person… They do actually sound like Burt — they can handle all the old stuff like Burt — but as far as moving forward, I would like them to have their own identity. We're still gonna have the formula of what makes FEAR FACTORY — for sure — but I want this person to somewhat have his own identity as well."

Dino also addressed his statement from last year that he wanted to give an "unknown guy a shot" at fronting FEAR FACTORY. He said: "Well, it wasn't like I was only looking for somebody that nobody knew. I was looking for all different [types of singers]. Sure, if the guy turned out to be, or the girl turned out to be, someone that nobody knew and I gave 'em that shot, yeah, great. I was open to all of it, is what I'm saying. Male, female, whatever, known, unknown — I was open to all of that."

In September 2020, Bell issued a statement officially announcing his departure from FEAR FACTORY, saying that he "cannot align" himself with someone whom he does not trust or respect.

"Aggression Continuum" was released in June 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP, which was recorded primarily in 2017, features Cazares and Bell alongside drummer Mike Heller.