Shows: 2027
Earliest: Sep 29, 1989
Latest: Nov 3, 2025
[
WikiPedia] Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. It has released ten full-length albums and evolved through a succession of sounds, all in its main style of industrial metal. Over the years, the band has seen frequent changes in its lineup, with lead vocalist Burton C. Bell the only consistent member for 31 years until his departure in 2020. Guitarist Dino Cazares is the only remaining original member of Fear Factory, albeit had a seven-year sabbatical from the band between 2002 and 2009. The current lineup of Fear Factory consists of Cazares, bassist Tony Campos, vocalist Milo Silvestro and drummer Pete Webber.
Signing to Roadrunner Records in 1991, Fear Factory released their debut album Soul of a New Machine in the following year; it became an underground success and earned the band a growing following through touring. After cycling through a few member changes, the "classic" lineup was formed in 1994, with Bell, Cazares and founding drummer Raymond Herrera joined by bassist Christian Olde Wolbers. This lineup recorded three albums, including the breakthroughs Demanufacture (1995) and Obsolete (1998); both albums, along with worldwide tours, established Fear Factory's reputation as one of the most acclaimed metal bands of the mid-to-late 1990s. The fourth album, and last recorded with the "classic" lineup, Digimortal (2001), failed to match the success of its predecessors.
In March 2002, Fear Factory broke up due to internal disputes, but reformed by the following year, with Wolbers replacing Cazares on guitar and Byron Stroud handling bass duties. Two more albums – Archetype (2004) and Transgression (2005) – were released before the band went back on hiatus in 2006. Fear Factory reunited in 2009 with a new lineup that featured Cazares, Gene Hoglan as the replacement of Herrera, and Bell and Stroud reprising their respective roles; this lineup recorded the band's seventh studio album, Mechanize (2010). Wolbers and Herrera—together comprising 50% of the band's legal ownership—disputed the reunited band's legitimacy, and a legal battle began. Despite this, Fear Factory has since released The Industrialist (2012), Genexus (2015), and Aggression Continuum (2021).
Fear Factory has performed at Ozzfest four times and the inaugural Gigantour. Its singles have charted on the US Mainstream Rock Top 40 and albums on the Billboard Top 40, 100, and 200. It has sold more than a million albums in the U.S. alone.
