Industrial metal legends Fear Factory finally return with their 10th studio album “Aggression Continuum”, out June 18th which almost didn’t see the light of day. The last 6 years since “Genexus” came out has been a wild and interesting time in the band’s career and with a few changes in place including the departure of longtime vocalist Burton C. Bell, things seem to be finally moving forward into a new future. We spoke to guitarist Dino Cazares about the struggles of the last few years which culminated in the brilliant new album.
Andrew: I’m excited to talk to you about this new record, I had the honour of listening to it last night, your record label sent it to me and I gotta say this is kind of a game changer for Fear Factory in some respect I guess. It must be a bit of a landmark with all that’s obviously happening with the band, this must be a real game changer for you guys.
Dino: Oh for sure because like you said, everything that’s happened to us, there was a point where we thought that this record wasn’t even going to come out because of the legalities surrounding the trademark . But we were able to make it happen around July 2020 was when I was able to regain the trademark so we could move forward.
Andrew: There must be a new found appreciation for Fear Factory because you’ve had a long and big fright fight to keep the Fear Factory name alive after all this time. It does seem like you have a new appreciation for the Fear Factory brand in some respect.
Dino: I wouldn’t necessarily say new as I’ve always appreciated and loved Fear Factory from the very beginning but more like maybe a fresh start you can kinda say!
Andrew: Correct me if I’m wrong but you guys started working on this around 2016-2017, around that sort of period?
Dino: Yeah we finished a version of the record in 2017.
Andrew: How much of what you had then has changed to what you’ve got now or is most of it relatively the same?
Dino: Well I can’t say it’s the same because when we went back in, we re-recorded the drums because originally programmed so we went in and we had Mike Heller who has been with us for the last 9 plus years go in and record his live drums and that definitely brought a new element to the sound of the record. A new feeling, a new vibe. So with that we were able to make some changes and add some more keyboards, I got Rhys Fulber back on some songs and also we got Andy Sneap to mix it. Originally we had somebody else but Andy Sneap mixed Genexus and so we were kinda trying to go for a little bit of a sequel to that. Andy Sneap is an A-list mixer so he did a fucking amazing job and definitely added a whole new vibe to the record.
Andrew: Yeah I was going to ask if this was a continuation of Genexus. It does certainly feel like that but there’s also some different elements in there that were maybe somewhat different to what you had done in the past?
Dino: Oh there’s definitely a lot of different elements and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we had some different keyboards on the record, we had Igor [Khoroshev] who used to be in a band called Yes, we have Damien Rainaud who has been an engineer for Fear Factory for a long time, he came up with some keyboard stuff. A guy named Max Karon did some keyboard stuff, a guy named Giuseppe out of Italy did some keyboard stuff, I mean we had guys who definitely added new elements to the band when it came to the electronic stuff. But as far as the basics, guitars, drums, vocals, we do what we do. We created this style a long time ago and we just continue with it, we just try to improve on song writing, try to make it as catchy as possible and we try to make it as heavy and beautifully melodic as possible as well.
Andrew: Well it’s a fantastic album and it’s been pretty positive with the feedback on the single that everyone has heard so far right?
Dino: The single has been very positive, doing very well. It’s been getting a lot of streams and a lot of downloads for sure and we also did a killer video for it and I think a lot of people like it as well.
Andrew: Yeah the video is very post-apocalyptic, very military style in a way I guess. What was the inspiration behind that?
Dino: I’m not sure if…yeah it’s got some military elements to it for sure, especially when it’s like, ‘Hey go this way’, with the military hang signals, yeah for sure. But it’s basically, the female character is the disruptor and she’s trying to disrupt the system from the big mother ship that you see at the end of the video clip, the mother ship is the one that they’re sending all the drones trying to stop them from reaching the mainframe to disrupt the system or to try to destroy it. But they’re sort of successful but not necessarily successful in doing that because the drone was able to shoot the computer. But you don’t really know what happens, you’re going to see it in a…hopefully that we’re able to do a sequel to that.
Andrew: Oh ok cool! Obviously you guys are known for the sci-fi themes and concepts in your albums, we’ve talked about this before in previous interviews that you’re obviously a big sci-fi fan and stuff and that seems to still be a huge thing for you so you must be still involved in that world in your own personal life as well.
Dino: Well of course, technology plays a big part of our life in our daily life. I mean look how we’re talking now.
Andrew: Yeah exactly!
Dino: If this was like 15 years ago we wouldn’t be like this at all, unless we were doing it differently. But it’s always a relationship between human and A.I., sometimes we give the perspective of the human, sometimes we give the perspective of the A.I. so it’s the ongoing relationship between it too and it’s not always pretty. Some of it is a battle, some of it is death and some of it is positive outcome.
Andrew: And obviously a reflection of life as well because like you said, technology is a huge part of what we do now. It’s a reflection of what we see in ourselves.
Dino: Yeah we’ve been talking about this stuff like way back to Demanufacture and Obsolete. Obsolete was probably the one that most really honed in on the concept and that record was about how technology was basically making peoples jobs, peoples lives obsolete. Obviously we did it way more extreme on the record but technically what that represents is how certain things in certain people’s jobs has changed or have become obsolete.
Andrew: Yeah it’s funny if you look back on the early beginnings of Fear Factory and the concepts you were talking about in those early albums, it’s amazing how a lot of that stuff has come to fruition, that we are kind of seeing things now that you talked about on those early records.
Dino: Yeah now I have a robot that cleans my floor.
Andrew: [laughs].
Dino: There are manufacturing corporations that are using robotic arms to build things so in that sense like factory type of work, some of that has become obsolete for humans.
Andrew: “Aggression Continuum”, it’s sort of a fitting name for the album because it’s kind of like the next evolution in Fear Factory, was there anything in particular that you wanted to do on this album that you maybe hadn’t done before in the past?
Dino: I can’t say necessarily, it’s not a path that we haven’t treaded on before. You do try to give each record it’s own character, it’s own sound and that’s one of the reasons we always change the logo. Because a lot of people have asked me, ‘Hey man why do you keep changing the logo?’, and I go, ‘Because that record is something new so we want to give you visually something new as well as musically’, right? But sometimes you just have to expand on what you’ve done before and I think that’s what we’ve been able to do on this record. So you’re not going to see mega changes on this record, you’re going to hear, you’re going to instantly know that it’s Far Factory. Sure, there’s aggressive parts and there’s beautifully melodic parts, it’s a very pissed off record, the vibe comes across brutal. The first vocal line that you hear on the record is “Imagine your life taken from you”, that’s kind of an example of what we went through just to get here. All the struggles and sacrifices just to make it where we are at now and I think that’s probably the difference in the record, is that everything that we went through and we were able to come out successful and get this record out to everybody after almost 6 years.
Andrew: That must be a huge relief to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak.
Dino: Yeah and I also see a new beginning as well. Like you said, a fresh new start – contradicting to what I was saying.
READ THE REVIEW OF AGGRESSION CONTINUUM
Andrew: [laughs] On that note then, are you still looking for a new singer?
Dino: Hold on, going back to the record real quick, “Aggression Continuum” is definitely saying we’re continuing this style and that’s what you hear on the record but it also represents the future as well and that’s me continuing with the band and going forward. Also on the record, the Auto Baton is in an X pattern, so X is obviously the roman numeral for 10 and this is our 10th studio record so I wanted to point that out to you. Also on the left side on the bottom arm of the F there is a serial number there and the serial number also represents the birthdate of the machine, it’s the model number. So that’s another clue, another thing in there.
As far as the singer, yes we’ve narrowed it down to a few singers and we’re going to be picking one soon as soon as these restrictions open up and people can actually come up here and spend some time with me and I can choose a singer like that. Because sure I’ve done video calls, they’ve done studio recordings, they’ve sent me videos – but still, you don’t know until you get in a room with somebody and you get to know them a little bit more.
Andrew: Yeah chemistry is obviously a huge important aspect of being in a band and not just your musical chops and stuff like that.
Dino: Yeah it’s a lot of things to take in to factor in my decision. And also it doesn’t matter what gender because there is some really amazing female talent out there that have put in video submissions that are just mindblowing, amazing.
Andrew: Looking forward to it, as I said, the next chapter in Fear Factory. I’ve been a fan of Fear Factory since “Soul Of A New Machine” came out in ’92 and you are celebrating 30 years as well, or coming up to 30 years…
Dino: We’re already in 30 years.
Andrew: Already in 30 years, there you go, that’s a huge achievement. Reflecting back, is this been the most difficult and interesting time in Fear Factory or do you kind of see other things that you might of had in the past?
Dino: For me the difficulty that we went through were life. It just is, it’s business. There are people who lost way more than I have and people that have a lot less so I’m very thankful that I’m still here and able to do this. To me success is to create a style that people love, that you can still put the smile on people’s faces knowing that a Fear Factory record is coming out. That’s what I enjoy really and that’s pretty much why I’m still here, that to me is how I reflect on the 30 years and the great body of work that I’ve created all this time and just to influence somebody to maybe pick up the guitar, pick up the drums, pick up the microphone, write some lyrics, to go write some new poetry…write concepts for the new record. Give a record more than just a collection of songs but give these songs some meaning and that to me is succe3ss that people can get influenced by that and create something on their own. And that’s one of the reasons why there’s an X on the cover to represent 10, 10 records and the birthdate of the band because that also represents our 30 year career.
Andrew: It’s fantastic to see the evolution of Fear Factory after all these years. I’ve seen you guys at least 15 or 16 times in Australia and it’s amazing what you guys have gone through and the music you have built as well. This new album is right up there with all the other stuff that you’ve done, it’s amazing how your still able to have that quality in your music after all these years.
Dino: I think first of all that it’s the love of what I do, it’s the love of the fans, it’s the support of the fans and people who share that love with you when you’re creating music. That’s what drives us to keep going and for me to retain my sound, it’s in me, it’s not going anywhere, it’s in me and whatever I’m feeling I can get it out on the riffs and obviously it’s pretty aggressive [laughs].
Andrew: [laughs] It is! I also follow you on twitter and you’re very active on twitter and you engage with a lot of people on there. That must be another connection to make to the fans as well.
Dino: Yeah I’m definitely very active on social media whether it’s Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, mainly twitter because it’s very instant and people have a lot of questions to ask. People are concerned of what is the future for Fear Factory, people are concerned about it and I get it. Also there’s some straight up assholes on there as well and I’ll give it right back to them too, it’s funny. But yeah I’m very engaging on there and I don’t mind asking certain questions and I hope people can get a certain perspective that they might not have known about, about the band and or about some of the inner workings that go along and yeah, I don’t mind answering it.
Andrew: Well obviously given the quality of this new album, I think it’s safe to say there’s a lot of years ahead with Fear Factory. We certainly hope so, fingers crossed that everything goes well for you guys.
Dino: If I’m alive and I can still play this thing and write sick music [shows guitar], it’s gonna keep coming out!
Andrew: That’s great to hear! As I said, long time fan here, always been digging everything you guys have done and really appreciate your time and look, once all this pandemic goes away, we’d love to see you back in Australia, we miss you.
Dino: Yeah as soon as all this stuff opens up, I can’t wait to get back there on the road.
Pre-order Aggression Continuum here
