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Fear Factory return to fine form with a new album "Obsolete" and the start of a new tour that hopefully will see them return to Australia early in 1999. The band continues to evolve in experimenting with new sounds and using technology to fiery effect. The album contains the traditional intensity and killer riffs, together with two excellent melodic tracks to finish. There is a groove-orientated sound with more keyboards and slick arrangements. After enduring a dramatic trip to be in Australia for a promotional tour, guitarist Dino Cazares spoke to us about the latest happenings with the band. Q.The new album "Obsolete" is still as heavy as ever. Yet the sound quality seems to be up another level. How would you summarise this album from a career viewpoint? A.It's the evolution of Fear Factory. We are just progressing from our early "gothic" days in 1990. Then, to have somebody singing melodically was taboo. It made us different. With "Fear Is The Mindkiller", techno, industrial remixes were introduced. The industrial crowd really took to that style. On the third album, "Demanufacture", we took the vocals a little further. The last track was one of the earliest songs we ever wrote, but it was suitable at that stage for that album. The remixes of "Remanufacture" confused the fans a little. Now, "Obsolete" signifies what we are right now. The songs have evolved. We still have about seven songs from the early days that still have not been released. Q.The final two tracks of the album are "Resurrection" and "Timelessness". They appeal greatly as melodic and with the use of strings. Tell us about those songs? A.We structured the album to have a good flow, and it's a nice ending. They were obvious ending tracks." Resurrection" took us a long time to write because it's so different. Musically, it's very different because we had a 15-piece orchestra. We wanted to give it an organic feel, rather than a digital feel. With the computer, it's endless what you can do. We record everything in rock. We recorded the strings and put it on computer. "Timelessness" was something we just fooled around with. It's a passionate track and that epitomises the album. We wanted to put a human touch to it this time. We took the vocal styles further. Burton has really developed his vocals further and he is stronger now. He discovered himself a little more. Q.Is the new album simply a natural progression and maturity for the band? You seem to be expanding your horizons. A.Fear Factory is a concept within itself. Anything that incites fear symbolises it. Los Angeles alone is a big fear factory. It's how we see our society heading. The evolution of technology is growing faster than mankind. From our beginning, "Soul Of A New Machine" is the birth, "Fear Is The Mindkiller" is the fear in your mind, "Demanufacture" is the breakdown process, "Remanufacture" is bringing it back, and now "Obsolete" indicates that humans are becoming obsolete. Don't ask me about the future. We've always looked at more than just music. We've done more this time. There is a 12-page booklet by Dave McKean, who has done a lot of photographs and compiled the whole package for us. When you open the CD there is a booklet that reads like a movie script (description of scenes with Burton telling the story). The illustrations of the booklet tell of the fossils of man. CD-ROMs will be issued in a digipak version containing behind the scene footage, commercials for video games, and band profiles. There is a video game for Sony Playstation called "Messiah" that has been developed by Shiny Entertainment. We are doing a campaign for it. It's real time technology, and the company picked Fear Factory for the soundtrack. Q.Tell us about the way you go about marketing Fear Factory? Metal bands don't get a look in here as far as media coverage is concerned. A.We have a web site titled http://www.fearfactory.com which is run by an Australian guy. Fear Factory members call him up daily in order to provide updated information. With a big tour that we're undertaking now, it's important to be up to the minute with updating the web site for our fans. There is a company in L.A. who will be doing advertisements for us on a million web sites. This is a useful promotional tool for us. In the USA, there is no television coverage, no MTV, for us. Only college radio stations identify with Fear Factory. To get commercial coverage, you have to spend big money. The record company can't afford to spend huge amounts of money in that way. The whole scenario in getting airplay has changed. It's gone past the incentives of dinners and free passes. Programmers want $5,000 to spin the discs. Fear Factory can't do that. In one way, it's given the band longevity. Metal kids have the hunger to keep us alive and well. Otherwise, saturated coverage could result in them getting sick of us. When you see Fear Factory on MTV you know that we've worked hard to get there, not paid for it. We have been together for eight years and we've been able to make a living out of it. Q.What's been the secret to the success of Fear Factory? Is it being true to yourselves and the fans? A.You can look at it this way. I almost didn't make it here today for this interview. I caught a plane from New York to San Francisco to get a connecting flight to Sydney. On the United Airlines flight from San Francisco, we saw sparks shooting out from one of the engines. Everyone was in a mad panic. They had to make an emergency landing, and evacuate the plane. There were no other flights so we had to take our bags and we were put into a hotel room. In my head, I was saying to myself, "Stuff this". I was ready to go back home. Then I thought, "Australia". Australia has been really good to the Fear Factory. All the kids that want to hear about our new album. It was the fans who made me continue the journey. As for the band, power and imagination is the key to success. We don't limit ourselves to what we do. We are very persistent people also. Q.You are undertaking a US tour with Slayer. How much have you looked forward to that, and what is the future for the band? A.I am looking forward very much to this tour. I can't wait for it. It runs through America during August and September, for approximately seven weeks. Then we tour with a German industrial band Rammstein in Germany and for a full European tour, before heading back to Australia early in the New Year. Perhaps the Big Day Out is possible for us again. The promoters know that we are available for it. I believe they are planning heavy rock bands for the event next time. We'll be doing our own shows anyway. Coming here in 1997 was very successful for us and we want to make further inroads.
Carmine Pascuzzi The "Obsolete" album is available through Roadrunner Records |