Los Angeles' Fear Factory was formed as a death metal band by members of various local acts and adult movie actors. The band was first heard on the Roughage Records' (now Dwell) L.A. Death Metal sampler CD and then snapped up with great pride by Roadrunner A&R Monte Connor.

The band initially was deemed death metal with ambient screams, but quickly transformed itself into a well-funded techno/industrial act with no relevance to metal fans. Wolbers is Dutch and was visiting Biohazard in the USA when was asked to audition for the recently-bass less Fear Factory.

Roadrunner and Fear Factory often released re-mix CDs and EPs to further sell and promote the band. Following disappointing sales figures for Digimortal and a consequent difference of opinion between Bell and Cazares, the band made the surprise announcement of its demise in March 2002. Instead a line-up of Burton C. Bell (vocals), Christian Olde Wolbers (guitar/bass) and Raymond Herrera (drums) would cut a three-track demo late in 2002. The songs featured were Slave Labor, Corporate Cloning and Archetyp. Simultaneously Bell and live keyboardist John Bechdel would forge ahead with a new band called The Watchers. Furthermore Wolbers and Herrera would constitute The Kush Project. Not to be outdone Cazares would form Asesino. Cazares would also jam with Body Bag.

The new line-up would work on a new album called Archetype in California and in Vancouver in Canada. The group had earlier signed with Liquid 8 in North America and Roadrunner in Europe. The band recruited bassist Byron Stroud of Strapping Young Lad for live work and Wolbers switched to guitar. Fear Factory hit the road with Slipknot to support the album.

The band's Transgression album was issued on August 23rd through Roadrunner. SYL's Byron Stroud played on the album. The European version featured several extra tracks. A slot on the Gigantour preceded the album's release. Christian Olde Wolbers joined Korn in the spring of 2006. The band and Liquid 8 Records parted ways in late 2006 without producing a new record. After a five-year hiatus, Dino Cazares returned with a new group. Divine Heresy featured Cazares handling guitar and bass duties, Tim Yeung (Hate Eternal and Vital Remains) on drums and newcomer Tommy Vext on vocals. The band’s Roadrunner/Century Media Records’ debut offering, Bleed The Fifth, was set for an August of 2007 release. The album didn’t arrive, but Arkaea, the band of Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera, as well as singer Jon Howard (Threat Signal) released its debut album on March 10th, 2009 through Koch Records. Drawing parallels between Def Leppard and Poison, which ended up announcing a tour after slagging each other for a year, Dino Cazares and Burton C. Bell joined together in the spring of 2009 to form a band. Apparently, Gene Hoglan was drumming. The two Fear Factory alumni had spent several years slagging one another. A legal battle ensued for the rights to the name Fear Factory. The reconciled Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares squared off against Raymond Herrera and Christian Olde Wolbers. In the meantime the latter two are busy with their Century Media-signed band Arkaea. The other two have just cancelled a proposed Europe, Australia and New Zealand tour it would seem to record an album.

City Of Fire was a new project featuring Burton C. Bell and Byron Stroud in addition to Terry "Sho" Murray (guitar), Ian White and drummer Bob Wagner. The band was releasing a demo in the summer of 2009. Metal Mind Productions would re-release Hatefiles in 2009, which was Fear Factory's compilation album featuring rare, unreleased and remixed tracks from 2003. The album was notable as it contained Terminate, the last song to be recorded with the original guitarist Dino Cazares. Candlelight signed Fear Factory in 2009. The American alterna-rockers’ album, Mechanize, was to be issued in February. Naturally, Gene Hoglan was part of the line-up.

FEAR FACTORY - TRANSGRESSION - LIQUID 8
Fear Factory is just too premeditated a band to be taken seriously. The band tries everything to be palatable and trendy. Yet, the vocals are predictable being both trippy and angry; the music is alternately chugging, aggressive and soft and the chords, well, disjointed is the obvious adjective. Guest appearances and a cover version are designed to maximize sales, garner MTV's attention and get a single out, but Transgression is ultimately self-aware, all too mechanical and boring. Once again, heavy metal keeps marching on leaving traitors by the way side.- Ali "The Metallian"