The bitter war of words between former Fear Factory bandmates Burton C Bell and Dino Cazares makes for great headlines, but it’s in danger of overshadowing what really matters: the music.
It’s a shame, because Fear Factory have just released the first single from their upcoming album, Aggression Continuum – and it slams.
A quick recap: Burton and Dino recorded the album back in 2017, only for it to languish in the industrial-metal equivalent of development hell while they dealt with various heavy duty legal issues involving ex-members. Then at the end of 2020, Burton himself quit, citing personal issues with Dino – leaving the guitarist holding the baby.
So here we are in 2021, and the first taster from Aggression Continuum sees the light of day. Contrary to speculation, Dino hasn’t brought in a ringer to re-record Burton’s vocals - that’s the man himself on there, growling/singing about “psycho sickness propaganda” and being “enslaved by corporate fucks.”
And the music? At this stage, you know what you’re gonna get with Fear Factory: sheet-metal factory riffs, and epic percussive barrage and swelling keyboards. It’s the sort of massive noise that only sounds like Fear Factory (and it certainly doesn’t sound like Linkin Park).
Whether it not this really is the end of the road for Burton and Dino remains to be seen – it’s not as if they’ve never fallen out and reunited before. But if it is the singer’s swansong, it’s a fine way to exit – and proof that you should never write off Dino Cazares.
Aggression Continuum is on June 18.
Agression Continuum tracklist:
1. Recode
2. Disruptor
3. Aggression Continuum
4. Purity
5. Fuel Injected Suicide Machine
6. Collapse
7. Manufactured Hope
8. Cognitive Dissonance
9. Monolith
10. End Of Line
