Fear Factory Tease New Singer, Debut Siqq Riff

Fear Factory are getting ready to release the first single from their new album on April 16, and presumably to build anticipation, they’re now starting to tease some shit. And by “they,” I mean guitarist Dino Cazares — now FF’s sole owner and sole remaining original member — and by shit I mean a siqq riff from the album, and the band’s new singer.

First, let’s get the riff out of the way. I dunno what to say about it other than, like, yeah, that sure is a Fear Factory riff aight. But I like it! Here see what you think:

Neat-o, huh?

Now, the singer: last night (April 4), Cazares tweeted out the picture at the top of this post, identifying it as “the band photo as of now till we add the new singer” (besides Cazares, the pic features Static-X bassist Tony Campos and drummer Mike Keller, both of whom have been with Fear Factory for a minute). Now, the wording there is sufficiently vague that one might assume the band has not yet actually hired a new singer…

…but then a fan replied with a message about how they hope it’s Howard Jones (Light the Torch, Sion, ex-Killswitch Engage), to which Cazares replied “For the one millionth time it’s not him.” Cazares later added, “[Jones] has a million bands and I want to give an unknown a shot.”

(He also made it clear that his former Divine Heresy bandmate, Tommy Vext, will not be fronting Fear Factory either, linking to MetalSucks’ story about the domestic violence allegations against Vext before adding, “I hear [Vext is] doing a Retrumplican solo tour in Texas w/ his band members wearing masks on stage so the focus is only on him.”)

(He also also made it clear it won’t be the singer from some band called Conflict who have covered Fear Factory. In the unlikely event you thought it might be that person.)

Which suggests someone has been hired already. I mean maybe not — Cazares could just know definitively Jones won’t join the band, the same way he knows definitively Ronnie James Dio won’t join the band — but the phrasing sure makes it sound like he knows who the band’s new singer is gonna be. And for better or worse, it sounds like it’s someone few of us know (so probably no one from MetalSucks’ helpful list of suggestions).

Assuming that’s the case… talk about pressure. One day no one has heard of you, one day you’re trying to win over Fear Factory fans… by attempting to fill Burton Seabell’s shoes… when Seabell has left the band under very unhappy circumstances. Good luck to that person.

Expect lots more news soon…