Fear Factory

Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band that got its start in Los Angeles in 1989. Over the course of ten studio albums, the group explored a range of sounds while staying rooted in industrial metal. The lineup changed frequently over the years; vocalist Burton C. Bell was the sole constant member for 31 years before leaving in 2020. Today, guitarist Dino Cazares is the only original member still in the band, joined by bassist Tony Campos, vocalist Milo Silvestro, and drummer Pete Webber. The band has sold over a million albums in the United States.

The band originally formed under the name Ulceration, chosen simply because it sounded cool. In 1990, they switched to "Fear the Factory," inspired by a factory near their rehearsal space that was guarded by armed men, and later shortened it to Fear Factory. The core of the group came together when Cazares and drummer Raymond Herrera—both from earlier projects—recruited bassist Dave Gibney and vocalist Burton C. Bell. Cazares reportedly heard Bell singing U2's "New Year's Day" and was impressed enough to ask him to join. Cazares played bass on the first three albums, including *Concrete*, *Soul of a New Machine*, and *Demanufacture*, and changed many riffs during recording.

Early demos showed strong influences from Napalm Death and Godflesh, blending grindcore aggression with mechanical, bleak industrial sounds. These recordings were notable for Bell's early use of both death growls and clean vocals in the same song, a style that later became influential in nu metal and other metal subgenres. The band contributed two songs to the *L.A. Death Metal Compilation* in 1990 and played their first show on Halloween that year.

In 1991, Fear Factory recorded tracks with producer Ross Robinson at Blackie Lawless's studio, but the band refused to sign the contract due to unfavorable terms. They kept the rights to those songs and re-recorded many of them in 1992 with producer Colin Richardson for their debut album, *Soul of a New Machine*. Robinson later released the original recordings as *Concrete* in 2002, without the band's approval, leading to a lawsuit. The band considers *Concrete* a demo rather than a proper album.

After sending the *Concrete* demo to labels, Fear Factory was turned down by several major metal labels, including Metal Blade, Earache, Nuclear Blast, and Peaceville.