Fear Factory’s ninth album Genexus will feature a guest appearance from Journey drummer Deen Castronovo, guitarist Dino Cazares has confirmed.
He’ll play on one track while Mike Heller will be behind the kit for the rest of the work, to be launched on August 7 via Nuclear Blast.
They used a drum machine on 2012’s The Industrialist – a move that was slammed by former sticksman Raymond Herrera, who called the sound “stale.”
And Cazares agrees that live drumming gives the record a more “natural feeling.” He tells Horns Up Rocks: “Obviously, when you start recording, you can add and manipulate the sounds any way you want.
“It’s a hybrid between organic and digital – that’s what this record sounds like, and I think that’s what makes it really good.
“Albums like Demanufacture and Obsolete were the same type of hybrid, and that was the approach we took on the drums on this record.”
Cazares hasn’t confirmed which track features Castronovo. But he believes the album title reflects its conceptual nature: “Genexus is ‘genesis’ and ‘nexus’ together. Genesis is obviously the beginning of time, and nexus is things coming together. So it’s a combination of where we started from and where we are now.”
On the band’s website he says: “We really feel this is a very special album. While being careful not to replicate ourselves, this album still has a very classic Fear Factory vibe that we feel will appease both old and new fans.”
Bassist Matt DeVries quit Fear Factory earlier this month to spend more time with his family. He was replaced in the lineup by former Soulfly man Tony Campos.
