Ex-Fear Factory Members Burton C. Bell and Christian Old Wolbers Post Photo Together

Okay, I admit this is story borders on gossip and I don’t love writing gossip about who appeared with who on social media. But this is a special circumstance because I think it’s a sort of wholesome moment of two feuding ex-bandmates coming together as friends for at least long enough of a moment to snap a photo together.

The major shake-ups in Fear Factory over the past few years have left their mark, and ex-Fear Factory vocalist Burton C. Bell and ex-Fear Factory bassist Christian Olde Wolbers have spent a lot of time locked in legal battles, with Wolbers having launched a lawsuit that forced Bell to declare bankruptcy. So it was a little surprising, and a bit refreshing, to see the pair burying the hatchet long enough to snap a photo together after bumping into each other at the NAMM conference in Anaheim, CA.

Wolbers posted the photo of the pair on Instagram with the caption:

“Namm is happening this week and the highlight was catching up with The Dry Lung Vocal Martyr.”

So that was one of the sweeter moments in metal news in the past week. I mean, that is if you want to just kind of ignore the whole thing where Wolbers is a right-wing conspiracy theorist who said COVID-19 was created to kill “anti-commie protesters” and that he once compared Bernie Sanders to Hitler because they both used a pointing gesture with their fingers. Sure, once you start remembering who Wolbers is as a person it starts to become a lot less wholesome, but I want to sort of manufacture a sweet moment so I’m going to try and forget about all that.

Dammit, it’s not working.