By Martin Popoff
"Malcolm's an up-and-coming producer in the States, producing lot of young bands, a lot of radio-type bands," clarifies Burton. "And he's done some really interesting things. So our label and our management suggested we try it and we gave them the benefit of the doubt and said we would approach this with an open mind and see what an outsider can do for us. You know, why constrain it to the four of us? See what someone else could do. And it actually worked out for the better. We were quite surprised by the reaction and the outcome."
What do you think about this nu-metal thing that has grown up around you?
"To be honest, not a lot of it inspires me at all," notes Christian emphatically, Burton adding that "I'm very particular about my music. Mainstream music on the radio, I don't listen to it at all because it all sounds the same. To me it's just manufactured, produced, industry music."
"There's only one band on the radio that I turn it up for and that's Rage Against The Machine," offers Christian. "Faith No More too, but they don't even play them any more." Burton: "But it's happening to metal, and it happened to metal about ten years ago. Metal goes through an evolution. And metal is an archaic word actually. I think the word should be changed. Music is evolving and the term should evolve as well. It's a whole new ballgame. Just call it hard rock, that's the one that sticks with everybody. Metal, it kind of pigeonholes a band, especially a band like Fear Factory that has so much more to it than just metal. There's electronica, there's industrial, there's hip-hop type grooves, a little bit faster, but there is so much more than just metal. So it's unfair to use that term for a lot of bands. Pantera and Slayer are metal."
FEAR FACTORY - New and Nu Before You Page 3