Mankind won’t have to worry about a Terminator-like rise of the machines, says Los Angeles-based Fear Factory vocalist and lyricist Burton C Bell.
He feels heavy artillery won’t be required during the power shift.
‘‘There's not going to be an uprising,’’ says Burton. ‘‘It's going to be a gradual takeover, because we're letting them do it.
‘‘Already we’re becoming dependent on machines to work our bidding, our thinking, serving us. We’ve become dependent on it and we’re becoming apathetic to the idea as well and we’re allowing it to happen.’’
Burton’s comments came during discussion on the band’s latest offering, Genexus, a grinding, visceral slab of molten tech-metal.
The band’s first release through Nuclear Blast, it is a theme-based outing, pondering the theory of singularity; the next stage in human evolution, where man becomes more machine-like and the machines become more human.
When singularity occurs, the difference between man and machine will be near impossible to detect.
It was inspired by the writings of American author, scientist and futurist, Ray Kurzweil, who believes singularity will occur around 2045.
It’s something that Burton, a self confessed sci-fi buff, is keen to explore, and does so on aptly named tracks like Anodized, Autonomous Combat System, Regenerate, Expiration Date and Enhanced Reality.
He agrees with the notion that man already quite the slave to its own technologies and that with each smart device, we as a race find ourselves intellectually regressing.
‘‘We've stopped thinking about humanity and the good of mankind and are becoming more insular and selfish ... thinking about your own needs, your own wants, your own leisure time and you don't have to think,’’ Burton said. ‘‘I'll just look it up on Wikipedia; instead of researching and learning. When was the last time you really had to sit down and solve a math problem by hand? I'm guilty of that. It's like, f**k it, I'll grab a calculator.’’
Burton said the title, Genexus, was a word Fear Factory guitarist and songwriter Dino Cazares had seen online.
‘‘I looked it up in the dictionary and it's not there,’’ said Burton. ‘‘I looked it up online and there's no definition for it, so we created our own definition for it.
‘‘Once you come up with the title and the concept of the record everything else kind of powers through.’’
Burton says Genexus is the pairing of ‘genesis’ (the beginning) and ‘nexus’ (the connection point of two things).
‘‘It took us several months to figure out an album title,’’ he said. ‘‘It had to be poignant, it had to be different, something interesting, something that stands out.’’
Burton said the album took the band 18 months from concept to creation. It was produced by the band with longtime collaborator Rhys Fulber and was mixed by Andy Sneap.
‘‘We started in January of 2014 and didn't finish it until April of this year,’’ he said. ‘‘To do it right for Fear Factory it takes time. But I think the time that we took ... you can hear the effort and the quality of the sound crafting, the song crafting, the arrangements and the concepts.’’
Genexus marks the first Fear Factory album on which drummer Mike Heller appears.
‘‘The drum tracks came up really well,’’ Burton said. ‘‘Mike did a great job. Part of the concept of this record was to bring back a human element to the drums, because the human element certainly provides a groove that a machine can not do.
‘‘While we were researching and going into this record we realised that the best songs of Fear Factory, the ones that stand out when we play live, are those songs and that's something we've missed in the last couple of records, so there was an intentional return.’’
Fear Factory launched onto the global metal/industrial music scene in 1992 with the mind melting debut album, Soul Of A New Machine. Genexus is the band’s ninth full length studio outing.
Burton said he was pleased to have it released through Nuclear Blast.
‘‘It means a lot to us,’’ he said. ‘‘It means a lot to be part of a family again. Since we left Roadrunner we've kind of been a rogue band doing its own thing with a different label every record. It did seem to affect the band in some ways.
‘‘Monte Conner is now working with Nuclear Blast, and he's the guy who originally signed Fear Factory with Roadrunner back in the day. He thought it was the proper time to bring Fear Factory back into a family ... we're the kind of band that needs that support and we're very happy to be a part of that.
‘‘When you deliver an album that you're very proud of and in, it means the label will get excited about it and will work just as hard as you do to promote it.’’
Burton said the band would more than likely tour Australia in support of the album next year.
He said that new tracks Protomech and Dielectric had already been incorporated into the band’s live set: ‘‘the response has been great,’’ said Burton.
Alongside his work with Fear Factory, Burton has recently filfilled a longterm dream and published his first graphic novel.
An accompaniment to the band’s last album, The Industrialist, the work of the same name, is available exclusively through the singer’s website, www.burtoncbell.com.
‘‘Over a year in the making,’’ he said. ‘‘The story was written and throughout the entire touring cycle for The Industrialist I was looking for an artist and it wasn't until the last show in London on The Industrialist Tour that I found an artist. He totally got the imagery and I hired him. He was a fan of Fear Factory which helped a lot. He nailed it. That was Noel Guard.
‘‘I'm doing it all inhouse, all on my own, all independent and the only place to find it is on my website. I'm very proud of it and it's something I've been wanting to do for years. Now that I have the knowledge of how to do it, it's going to be much easier.’’
Fear Factory’s Genexus is available now.
