FEAR FACTORY Singer: Making The New Album Was Therapeutic

FEAR FACTORY vocalist Burton C. Bell has told Canada's Chart magazine that the group's new album, "Archetype", "basically wrote itself" once they worked through the emotional and financial turmoil that followed the departure of a founding member (Dino Cazares) and split with longtime record label (Roadrunner).

"It was a therapeutic album for us, even more so than older albums," Bell said. "With the changes that occurred [shifting band members… more on that later], this is how we dealt with it. The dynamics of the band shifted. We became tighter. There was a lot of pain to get through, but a lot of change is for the better. Things ran their course, so we took the steps that were important to get us here today. This evolving world of fate is insane. I had no intention of doing another record. I’m glad it came together."

"Creating 'Archetype'… it just happened," added guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers. "We all knew if were to make another record, it had to be a superior FEAR FACTORY record. When we shifted the line-up a bit, that sparked some creativity. I think that’s where we went wrong in the past with over-analyzing. [This time] we took more of a punk rock mentality: 'The song's done. Here it is,' matter-of-fact approach, instead of being so analytical and we’re proud of the result."

Bell concurred: "Sometimes being over analytical is detrimental. It's a sign of insecurity. We're culprits of that with past albums, but this one was more stream-of-consciousness, [not] forced. Everyone did it because they wanted to and it eventually snowballed. We were like, 'Fuck it, let's do a record!' I think you can hear that enthusiasm on the record. In fact, I think you'll see a lot more of that enthusiasm with everything we do from now on." [Read more]