Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares Says “One A**hole… Lied In Court And Lost Everything”

You’re likely aware that guitarist Dino Cazares currently serves as the driving force behind Fear Factory, having been granted 100% control of the band last year following years of legal battles. Those suits involved current and former members of the long-running industrial outfit, in particular Raymond Herrera and Christian Olde Wolbers.

Those legal rows saw the group’s vocalist Burton C. Bell file for bankruptcy twice, while Cazares himself would also go bankrupt as well—a development Bell has since blamed his own second bankruptcy on. They also ultimately saw the acrimonious departure of Bell late last year.

While Cazares initially had said that he would leave the door open for a potential return from Bell, their estranged relationship has since taken an uglier turn on social media and in the press after Bell made it clear he had no desire to work with Cazares again.

Exacerbating the bitterness was a GoFundMe campaign Cazares launched late last year. Cazares claimed the funds were chiefly being raised to cover the cost of studio time to allow drummer Mike Heller to lay down actual drumming over the programmed drums in place on the band’s already recorded new album. Cazares and Bell had recorded that album together several years prior. Cazares also mentioned that the Heller‘s new parts required him to tweak some of his own guitar parts to accommodate them.

Bell on the other hand would go on to call the campaign a ‘scam’, insisting it was to cover the costs of Cazares‘ legal bills. Since Bell‘s departure, Cazares has announced that he will be continuing on with Fear Factory, with a replacement for Bell reportedly still in the process of being locked in. Heller and bassist Tony Campos have also since been confirmed as members of this new version of the group.

Understandably, the decision to replace Bell has been a controversial move for fans, if not also a confusing one. Several years before exiting, Bell laid down his vocal parts on the aforementioned new album from the group, which had been shelved among the legal proceedings.

That album, now officially titled “Aggression Continuum“, will be released in the coming months with the first single from it, “Disruptor“, to premiere this Friday, April 16th. As confirmed once again by Cazares over this weekend, Bell‘s vocal tracks will remain on that album, despite his exit and impending replacement.

Given the frequent back and forth, poor communication and the controversial decision to replace Bell, who himself was a founding member, Cazares has weathered many a negative response on social media. In a post shared earlier today, April 11th, he responded to the trolls while also seemingly taking a shot at Bell as well:

This latest shot and apparent escalation in public hostility between Cazares and Bell follows the recent online publishing of a conversation with Bell in which he had few kind words for Dino.