Burton Bell has left Fear Factory, or what was left of it. He's not really holding back here. Lots of patreon refund requests coming Dino's way? He has been just a little dishonest recently  :laugh:

QuoteI consider myself a private person, preferring to keep my personal business to myself and trusted loved ones. I make my public statements with thoughtful intent, never deviating from the truth, in spite of the consistent series of dishonest representations and unfounded accusations from past and present band members; a toxic drama I choose to not be part of.

The past several years have been profoundly agonizing, with these members bleeding my passion with depraved deceit. As a direct consequence of their greed, these three have dragged me through the unjust, judicial system, resulting in the legal attrition that has financially crippled me. In the end, these three members have taken possession of my principal livelihood. However, they will never take my 30-year legacy as the beating heart of the machine. A legacy that no other member, past or present, can ever claim.

So, it is after considerable, contemplative soul searching that I have come to the realization that I cannot align myself with someone whom I do not trust, nor respect. Therefore, I am announcing to my fans my departure from Fear Factory, to focus all my energy and attention toward the continuing success for Ascension Of The Watchers, and all my future endeavors.

I am very proud of the Ascension Of The Watchers' latest album, Apocrypha. The writing and recording process for Apocrypha has been a truly cathartic and artistic journey of exploration and growth for me. Reigniting my passions for my writing, allowing my music to flourish, enabling my soul to soar, saving me from the real hell that engulfed a significant part of my daily life. Collaborating with talented, kindred spirits has truly created an inspirational environment of support and mutual respect, a spirit I have missed for a very long time.

I would like to thank all of my fans for their continued support throughout my career. I am very proud of my achievements, but, it is time for me to move forward. Now I look to the future with open eyes, open mind and open heart, as my artistic path strives for even greater success in music, writing and my art. It's true, "the end is always the beginning". The soul is free from the machine.

Bravo on the thread title :laugh:

The lot of them have been at each other for the best part of twenty years now, I'm amazed it even lasted so long.

I can still see Dino getting a new singer to try and milk the name for another few years though

Could see this coming, what wih him publicly distancing himself from Cazares' begging bowl. Whatever you think of the band, his voice was so distinctive that he'd be irreplacable, really. I'd hoped to see the 'classic' line-up reform, or at least the Archetype version, and put out another decent one but that's that for the 'band' now, I fear.

#4 September 29, 2020, 01:41:06 PM Last Edit: September 29, 2020, 02:12:29 PM by ochoill
From what I can tell it's pretty much originally Wolbers' fault it got this bad in the first place but yeah the whole thing seems to have soured the band.  Have a scroll through Cazares' twitter for some more on it, as sketchy as he's generally made out to be he's pretty open on it all.

Edit: taking my own advice I went looking for recent court documents - can't find the latest ones but looking over last years' and some other stuff from the bands other iterations throughout the last two decades, the whole thing is an absolute mess but a bizarre and interesting read.

Scratching the surface, it appears there was far more going on prior to the current shitshow.

https://www.metalsucks.net/2019/10/03/fear-factory-lawsuit-details-revealed/
https://www.theprp.com/2019/10/03/news/fear-factorys-long-history-of-internal-lawsuits-revealed/

Can anyone find the court documents from the most recent proceedings? I'd say it would be quite interesting, especially since Dino seems to own the brand name now.

Quote from: Juggz on September 29, 2020, 02:06:24 PM
Scratching the surface, it appears there was far more going on prior to the current shitshow.

https://www.metalsucks.net/2019/10/03/fear-factory-lawsuit-details-revealed/
https://www.theprp.com/2019/10/03/news/fear-factorys-long-history-of-internal-lawsuits-revealed/

Can anyone find the court documents from the most recent proceedings? I'd say it would be quite interesting, especially since Dino seems to own the brand name now.

I can't find them unfortunately but they will likely crop up now that the story is out.  From what I gather, long and short over it, Bell going bankrupt and Herrera & Wolbers suing him for not paying royalites for use of the FF name roundabout caused Cazares to end up with the rights for it - likely Bell lost any claim he had due to the bankruptcy case and what happened after, so Cazares launched his own proceedings for the full rights.  If you go back further there were court cases after transgression too when Wolbers & Herrera wanted to keep using the name after leaving the band, and just before Bell & Cazares got back together for Mechanize.  And in every case, unfortunately, even as far back as post-digimortal, they all just tear strips of Cazares every chance they get in interviews but it is primarily the two lads (the same lads who have sued everyone every step of the way).  None of them are right here, but Wolbers & Herrera have fired up almost every one of these cases.

I'd say it's nearly always been Burton at the centre of everything. He quit just after Digimortal, then got back with Wolbers and Herrera, then left that version to join up with Dino again, which caused the original lawsuit from the two lads, and now he's quit a third time

I found all their bands outside of FF pretty shite and don't think any were at all successful, they'll probably go for the reunion cash with a 30th anniversary Demanufacture tour in 2025

The Ascension of the Watchers album a few years ago was pretty shit. The last half decent thing out of FF was Mechanize and that was mostly down to Hoglan and Stroud, so no loss to anyone anywhere really.

+1. One band along with Machine Head I could never understand the fascination about. One of the many reasons I tired of Metal Hammer in the mid to late 90s.
Quote from: Ducky on September 29, 2020, 12:06:08 PM
Bravo on the thread title :laugh:

Loved the first two albums,but had zero interest after that.Once them and Machine Head went down the tracksuit wearing nu metal road it was game over for me.

They were part of the wave of shite which pushed me away from metal in the 90's but it's an intriguing story. It'll be interesting to see if he allows his performances to be released by what is now exclusively a Dino vehicle.

SOANM was a very formative metal album for me and I loved them for years in my teens because of Demanufacture and Obsolete, but the rest is quite bad, bar Mechanise, as much time as I gave others on release there's no hope they'd get to the CD player today.  I've no faith in them coming out with a good album in any formation of the band now but the whole story is interesting and not exactly as one sided as it was painted for decades.

Now on the other hand there was a twitter post where Cazares said he was willing to audition new vocalists over zoom and fans can vote on their favourite, just a shocking idea, turning the shell of FF into a sort of x-factor-esque audition is hilarious and awful at the same time.

A cross between X-Factor, Fear Factor, and Fun Factory!
Let's get this hashtag going so Dino sees it
#FunFearXFactorY