FEAR FACTORY Split Up!!

March 7, 2002

FEAR FACTORY have split up following frontman Burton C. Bell's decision to leave the band, a source within the group has confirmed to BLABBERMOUTH.NET.

According to reports, Bell had become increasingly unhappy with FEAR FACTORY's musical direction and no longer felt angry enough to sing in one of the world's most high-profile extreme metal bands. It is also believed that personal differences between guitarist/mainman Dino Cazares and Bell, brought on in part by the increasing pressure caused by the disappointing sales performance of the band's last effort, 2001's Digimortal, had contributed to the break-up, which became final sometime last week.

Despite the group's decision to disband, FEAR FACTORY will go ahead with the plans to record two brand new tracks for an upcoming Terminator game, which is tentatively due in August. These recordings will take place on Tuesday, March 12th at American Studios in Hollywood with producer Rick Will (i.e. INCUBUS, SKINDRED, NO DOUBT) and will mark FEAR FACTORY's final recordings as a group.

At this point in time, none of the individual bandmembers have made any firm plans to form new projects, although it is believed that bassist Christian Olde Wolbers will continue to be involved with CYPRESS HILL and KUSH, his long-running band with FEAR FACTORY drummer Raymond Herrera, DEFTONES guitarist Stephen Carpenter and CYPRESS HILL frontman B-Real. Meanwhile, Herrera is expected to make several death metal-style recordings for Relapse Records (following the drummer's successful appearance on PHOBIA's Return To Desolation CD last year),some of which may or may not feature Cazares, who is said to have expressed interest in contributing to the projects in the songwriting/performing capacity.

Although Dino is expected to continue his involvement with BRUJERIA and the offshoot ASESINO project, the guitarist has no plans to throw himself into a full-time band situation in the immediate future and will likely take his time finding the right musicians for his next group, which will follow a heavy and aggressive direction yet sound substantially different from FEAR FACTORY. Burton, on the other hand, recently spent time in West Virginia jamming with KARMA TO BURN on material for the group's next studio effort, which will tentatively feature guest appearances by a number of high-profile vocalists, including those by Bell, C.O.C.'s Pepper Keenan, SPEEDEALER's Jeff Hirshberg and CLUTCH's Neil Fallon.

While FEAR FACTORY's split has effectively put an end to an impressive four-album stint that peaked with the gold-selling 1998 effort Obsolete, plans exist for Roadrunner Records to unearth the group's previously-unreleased 1991 Ross Robinson-produced album, entitled Concrete, and issue it as the band's first posthumous release sometime in late 2002 or early 2003.

Containing 16 tracks, including eight that were never made available anywhere else in their original or re-recorded form, Concrete was initially meant to be released through Ross' own label but was eventually shelved following a contractual dispute between Robinson and the band. Easily the rawest and most stripped-down recording of the group's career, the album remains an important piece of FEAR FACTORY's history, and will likely serve as a fitting epitaph to what has been a truly remarkable 11-year run.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).