FEAR FACTORY Frontman Says 'Transgression' Is 'An Experimental Record'

Shawn Macomber of The Nashua Telegraph recently conducted an interview with FEAR FACTORY frontman Burton C. Bell. Several excerpts from the chat follow:

On the group's new album, "Transgression":

"I wanted to tell stories on this record, and the stories I ended up telling were of … going beyond.

"'Transgression' is about stepping over boundaries. As a band, we transgressed our fears and made the record we have all been waiting to make.”

On "Archetype", the band's first album without guitarist and founding member Dino Cazares:

"Every FEAR FACTORY record was always three years apart, but between 'Digimortal' and 'Archetype' there was a member change and a lot of questions about the integrity of the band, as well as who was actually the driving force behind FEAR FACTORY. I would call the last record a 'safe' record. Thus, the name 'Archetype'. It was archetypically what FEAR FACTORY has always done. We wanted to come back into the game and re-establish our name without alienating any of our fans. We wanted people to hear it and say, 'This definitely is FEAR FACTORY.' It was a defiant and proud, 'Here we are, back again.'"

"We still had something to prove on 'Transgression'. We had to show ourselves that this is a multifaceted band. Not every song has to be 300 beats per second. There are all types of heavy. We’re definitely exploring the sounds of FEAR FACTORY. This is an experimental record."

On the heavy music revival:

"It's just the natural way of things; basically an ongoing 10-year cycle. There was a bout of 10 years when true metal was not the reigning king. Hair metal evolved into pop into grunge and became all sorts of weird things. It's hard to explain, but when music gets to the point where it is so completely saturated with crap on every level, people will reach toward something that is not the norm, towards something that seems new but has actually just been on the back burner for awhile.

"The need for that kind of music — something real and aggressive, but intelligent and good — was being called into being by listening public drowning in meaningless music. It’s no surprise to me that there was a breaking point."

On Gigantour:

"Dave Mustaine did a great job of bringing together a lot of different bands on this tour. On Gigantour, you actually know when a band has left the stage because the next one doesn’t sound exactly the same as them.

"I think THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN on tour with FEAR FACTORY is a good connection. They’re going to go on before us and really tear it up, so we'll have to step up our game if we want to make our point. It makes us work harder and we’re thankful for that."

Read the entire interview at NashuaTelegraph.com.