Dino Cazares On What Happened To Burton C. Bell And FEAR FACTORY

Burton, Dino, Christian, Ray classic "gold" lineup, i really miss them😞

Demanufacture is almost 30 years old, and still sounds light years ahead of anything coming out today.

First time I heard Fear Factory was Scorpion vs. Johnny Cage in the original MK movie. Raymond Herrera is a treasure in the world of drumming.

Just started to listen to their discography again and just found out about their breakup. It's sad. I'm 36 and their music has carried me through my youth and so many memories come up, when I hear it. I hope, both sides are doing well.

But Burton came back to the band in 2003 with Christian and Raymond still in the band. They released Archetype which is one of the strongest FF albums. Now Raymond, Christian and Burton are all gone. This could be a sign

"He doesn't come across as a fighter" - Archetype will always be in my top 3 Fear Factory albums and it's mainly because of the pure honest rage you can feel in Burton's voice and lyrics. To say "this guy" has no fight is an insult when in actuality the band worked because of the pure awesome rage in Burton's voice. I can respect Dino as a musician but as a person I could care less.

I really believe Burton is the only one with a pure heart in this scenario. He has been fucked over and exploited by his bandmates over and over again. I don't blame him for finally leaving...I wish Dino and FF all the best though: amazing musician! Can't wait for the next album

Man this hurts, fear factory is one of my favorite bands

Dino: I've never pushed anybody out Previous 5 members of Fear Factory: 🤣🤣🤣

how can he say Burton isnt a fighter? he put up with dino's shit for years.

I listen to Genexus at least once a week. I don’t know where that album stands with other FF fans, but for me…it hits perfect front to back. I would’ve loved to see these guys live. :/

People may well have valid concerns regarding Dino, but let’s get some hard facts (not opinions or gut feelings) clear on the actual timeline and Burton’s fluctuating relationship with Extreme Metal. In 2002, after Digimortal, he quit the band on account of two things: he claimed not to like this sort of music and also had problems with Dino. Even Raymond did an interview back then where he slammed Dino. Meanwhile, Dino basically shrugged it off and said Burton’s heart wasn’t into it and that he’s over 30 and this sort of music and energy doesn’t appeal to him. Burton’s new project, Ascension of the Watchers (a very different genre) had its first tracks released. Then around 2003, Burton, Christian, and Raymond began working on Fear Factory material again while keeping Dino out of the project. This resulted in the release of Archetype, which some people consider a solid return to form using the Demanufacture formula. Great album, really. Some subtle attacks on Dino in said album. Over and above that, it showed that Christian is an amazing guitarist who can faithfully compose guitar parts in the Fear Factory formula and in a unique and distinctly tight technical manner. Then in 2005, there was the awkwardly produced produced, and somewhat experimental Transgression. This ended up being divisive but not an outright bad album as many also liked the raw sound. Though both Christian and Burton don’t reflect back favourably on how that album turned out. And then suddenly, just after some live touring in 2006, Burton remodels himself and does an interview about how he wanted to “escape Fear Factory”. How he doesn’t like being engaged with that kind of aggression and hate, and that Ascension of the Watchers allowed him to free himself from Fear Factory. Things go quiet for a while while Christian and Raymond do their own thing. And then in 2009/2010, Burton is back with Dino, who he has mended the bridge with, while completely locking out Christian and Raymond from the band. There are weird public statements from Burton about how Fear Factory needed a course correction and to function as a proper business. Guess he wasn’t really trying to escape it? They go on to release Mechanized, which I think is Fear Factory’s most aggressive and best album to date. Great album, but off a very strange and shady backstory. Raymond does an interview around this time simply saying that he has no idea what’s going on but that he and Christian also have rights to the Fear Factory name, so, in theory, there are technically two Fear Factory bands. Since then, there have been plenty of lineup changes with Burton and Dino being the core members and then that dynamic falling apart due to claims of lawsuit tension with Christian and Raymond right before the release of the last album, Aggression Continuum. Again, this was followed by cryptic claims by Burton about finding Dino untrustworthy and opportunistic; how he doesn’t trust any of them and doesn’t want to be involved in such musical endeavours because he has, once again, changed. So what’s the emerging pattern throughout all this? 1. Burton appears to go through phases where he genuinely doesn’t like this sort of music and tends to retreat to his softer, experimental rock projects. He makes very convincing cases every time about how he has changed or had some sort of creative epiphany, only to return later and often make even heavier and aggressive sounding records with Fear Factory under any lineup. Needless to say, he comes across as being quite fickle on this front, but perhaps there are more complex reasons at play. 2. Dino was kept out of the band for at least 7-ish years, and never tried to impose himself or engage in lawsuits during that time. He moved on with his other metal projects, which—regardless of whether one likes his character or not—is no surprise as he is a very distinguished song writer and guitarist. 3. In the context of Fear Factory, there do appear to be some hints of various people (not just Burton, Christian and Raymond) not being able to function consistently with Dino. The cold dismissals of both Byron Stroud and Gene Hoglan being rather alarming examples of this issue. Though again, we don’t have have a lot of details here and perhaps the picture is considerably more complicated. Perhaps Burton has something to account for here as well. The rest is entirely speculation.

I got my machine gun picking by learning from Dino. He said in an interview with guitar world years ago that you should learn acoustic first because it’s much more difficult to fret and play so that once you go electric, your form is solid. Best advice for metalheads looking to fix their picking technique.

Love him ir hate him, Dino created that Cyber Metal sound with his harmonious riffing with double kick drums. Brilliant.

One of my most awesome concert memories was singing Burtons lyrics at him while I was crowd surfing as Fear Factory was kicking ass on the second stage at Ozzfest in Burgettstown PA!

I can say firsthand from a substantial timeline of experience, Burt and Dino are both excellent, creative, empathic, ridiculously so fuckin cool, and very strong-souled artists. The number of years between them and the energy of so many collectively creative years surely manifests equally powerful emotions. Can't discount the personal pride as well, as caustic as it can be (deadly sin, they say). The most powerfully close human bonds, when broken, can become equally powerful in aversion. Which really sucks, but I get it. 1) Don't be silly and take "sides" in someone else's personal battles on the internet. It looks stupid. 2) If the obvious critical hits among the former bandmates can be felt by the fans, imagine the emotional blows the artists feel themselves. 3) Love these guys for the years of music, many many seriously fun times, insane nostalgia, and future iconic music to come.

Burton or no Burton, THANK YOU FEAR FACTORY! A whole lifetime of music, shows and sounds that no one else will ever come close to sharing with us fans. You deserve it. Best wishes from an eternal fan-

Dino is a man of real wisdom. He's old enough to understand that life is never static, nothing lasts forever. You have to learn to be ok with things dying, both metaphorically and physically.

If every fan had the experience of being in a band they'd understand how VERY fortunate we are that ANY bands are able to get together and stay together long enough to make music, and how blessed we are when those people happen to be talented AF. It's damned hard to get 3-5 dudes on the same page where they don't just want to play music, but play together, and tour/record. Many, many talented folks have been left by the wayside, working their "day job" for a lifetime just because either their desire wasn't strong enough, or the other dudes around them fell apart.

I missed out on the classic lineup, but I'm fortunate to have seen and worked for Fear Factory with at least Dino and Burton back in 2010. I was a stagehand at a venue in my hometown and they came on tour with Prong which also had Tony Campos of Static X on bass. What a show they put on.