BURTON C. BELL Felt Pressure To Deliver A 'Certain Sound' With FEAR FACTORY: 'As A Band, We Locked Ourselves In A Box'

In a new interview with Rock Hard With Phil And Tish, former FEAR FACTORY singer Burton C. Bell was asked if and his bandmates ever felt the pressure that they had to release a certain type of music. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I feel, as a band, we locked ourselves in a box. And the label was expecting a certain sound, certain members were expecting a certain sound and, to be honest, a lot of fans were expecting a certain sound. Releasing anything else would have been — what’s the word? — would have just been heresy, like, ‘What are doing? That doesn’t sound like FEAR FACTORY.’ ‘Well…'”

Bell went on to say that FEAR FACTORY released one album that didn’t fall in line with what the fans expected from him and his bandmates. “We did a record [in 2005] called ‘Transgression’. And the title in itself was a transgression of the actual sound of what FEAR FACTORY was. Instead of being an industrial metal band, on that record we were like a hard rock band almost. And fans treated it as such. So we did it to ourselves. But now as a solo artist, I don’t feel that [kind of pressure] at all. I feel the sky’s wide open.”

Bell issued two solo singles in 2024 — “Anti-Droid” and “Technical Exorcism” — and a cover of RAMMSTEIN‘s “Du Hast” in 2023.

A new single from Burton called “Savages” is expected to be released later this spring.

Bell played the first concert with his solo band on June 13, 2024 at 1720 in Los Angeles, California.

Backing Bell at his recent gigs have been guitarist Henrik Linde (THE VITALS, DREN),drummer Ryan “Junior” Kittlitz (ALL HAIL THE YETI, THE ACID HELPS),bassist Tony Baumeister (ÆGES) and multi-instrumentalist Stewart Cararas.

Bell‘s discography includes multiple live and recorded collaborations with BLACK SABBATH icon Geezer Butler and JOURNEY‘s Deen Castronovo (as G/Z/R); industrial maverick Al Jourgensen and MINISTRY; and guest vocal appearances with PITCHSHIFTER, CONFLICT, SOIL, STATIC-X, SOULFLY and DELAIN, among others. He’s the vocalist of ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS and CITY OF FIRE and, of course, the co-creator of FEAR FACTORY and the only musician to appear on every FEAR FACTORY release from 1992 through 2024.

FEAR FACTORY created a sound that revolutionized extreme metal, defined in no small part by Bell‘s innovative scream/sing dichotomy and the influences he brought from post-punk and industrial. Songs like “Replica”, “Linchpin”, “Edgecrusher”, “Fear Campaign”, “Archetype”, “Cyber Waste” and “Zero Signal” are modern metal anthems. “Demanufacture” (1995) and the RIAA gold-certified “Obsolete” (1998) are genre-redefining works heralded by fans and critics as essential albums. Orwell, Bradbury, “Blade Runner”, and sophisticated sci-fi and fantasy works fed Bell‘s lyrics and concepts.

The band toured the world with METALLICA, SLIPKNOT, KORN, MEGADETH and OZZY OSBOURNE, taking bands like SYSTEM OF A DOWN and STATIC-X out as support acts in their early stages. After years of behind-the-scenes band member turmoil and legal issues, Bell left FEAR FACTORY in the fall of 2020.

The 56-year-old Bell had been largely inactive on the musical front since officially announcing his departure from FEAR FACTORY in September 2020. At the time he said that he could not “align” himself with someone whom he did not trust or respect, an apparent reference to FEAR FACTORY founding guitarist Dino Cazares. Bell has since been replaced in the band by the Italian-born singer Milo Silvestro.