History Music / FearFactory

* {{JustForFun/OneOfUs}}: Dino and Burton are huge sci-fi nerds, which is why most of the band's lyrics have sci-fi themes. They're especially fans of the {{Franchise/Terminator}} films and BladeRunner. The "Tears In Rain" monologue is even quoted at the end of "Expiration Date", as it's written from the perspective of the replicants from Blade Runner.

** In the time since he left the band, Burton has been outright dismissive of the genre as a whole. He's even claimed that nu-metal acts are just [[FollowTheLeader following in the footsteps]] of what he created with Fear Factory. as a lot of nu-metal bands have influences from IndustrialMetal.

* GenreMashup: Kind of like Bauhaus in that the sound they created is common now, but was downright out of left field when they started. Death metal, industrial metal, grindcore, noise, EBM, rap, and synthpop aren't exactly things you'd expect to hear combined, but that's pretty much exactly what Fear Factory did. They even incorporate elements of NuMetal.
* GenreShift: Industrial death metal to industrial groove metal. They also had nu metal influence on ''Digimortal.''

* VocalEvolution: Inverted. Burton actually got ''worse'' as a vocalist over time, although you wouldn't know this from the studio recordings as a lot of studio magic was used to correct his voice.

** It used to be Burton C Bell, as up until ''Aggression Continuum'' he was the only member of the band to have performed on every single album.

** It used to be Burton C Bell, as up until ''Aggression Continuum'' he was the only constant member of the band throughout all of its line-up changes.

* IAmTheBand: Dino Cazares, who is the only original member left.

They disbanded in 2002 due to internal disputes, but reformed later that same year without guitarist Dino Cazares, a founding member. They disbanded again in 2006, only to reform ''again'' in 2009 with a new lineup, including the returning Dino and drummer [[Music/{{DarkAngel}} Ge]][[Music/{{Death}} ne]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}} Hog]][[Music/DevinTownsend lan]].

The future of the band remains to be seen, however, due to a lawsuit brought on by former drummer Raymond Herrera and former bassist Christian Olde Wolbers over the rights to the "Fear Factory" name. A planned new album, originally titled ''Monolith'', was shelved for a few years. Burton would suddenly depart from the band in September 2020, however Dino would re-work and finish the planned album with Bell's original vocal tracks intact, which would eventually release in June 2021 as ''Aggression Continuum''.

* TakeThat: "Archetype" (the song) at Dino.
** Interestingly, the band decided to play the song live again some years after Dino came back, re-directing the Take That at former members Christian and Raymond. The pre-chorus lyric of "the infection has been removed" was changed to "the infections have been removed".

* FiveManBand: The Archetype lineup, plus then-manager Christy Priske
** TheLeader: Burton
** TheLancer: Christian
** TheSmartGuy: Raymond
** TheBigGuy: Byron
** TheChick: Christy

* Dino Cazares – guitars, backing vocals (1989–2002, 2009–present); bass (1992, 1995, 2009-present); keyboards (1995)

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: Kind of like Bauhaus in that the sound they created is common now, but was downright out of left field when they started. Death metal, industrial metal, grindcore, noise, EBM, rap, and synthpop aren't exactly things you'd expect to hear combined, but that's pretty much exactly what Fear Factory did. They even incorporate elements of NuMetal.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness:''Soul of a New Machine'' and ''Concrete'' are 10; most of their other material is 8, occasionally bordering on 9.
** Some songs drop it as low as 6 or 7 ("Descent", "Resurrection", and "Cars".) They are in the minority.
*** Even more unusual is ''Timelessness,'' which is only about a 2!
** Most of the album ''Mechanize'' is a 9, probably thanks to the extremely fast and precise drumming done by Gene Hoglan, former drummer of Music/{{Death}}. The stuff on ''The Industrialist'', instead, borders on a 10 due to the ''even faster'' drumming, which was programmed with help by John Sankey from Devolved, who almost played on the album but couldn't due to schedule conflicts.
** Their cover of "0-0 (Where Evil Dwells)" goes up to 11, just like the original version.

** "Cyberwaste" is directed at people who [[{{GIFT}} use the Internet to harass others]].

* TheScapegoat: Well, "Scapegoat". It was written after an incident where Dino felt he was wrongly arrested for.

The future of the band is currently in question, however, due to a lawsuit brought on by former drummer Raymond Herrera and former bassist Christian Olde Wolbers over the rights to the "Fear Factory" name. A planned new album, ''Monolith'', has been shelved as a result. These plans have been pushed even further into doubt with Burton Bell's sudden departure in September 2020.

* {{GIFT}}: Addressed in "Cyberwaste".
** Also, "Archetype"'s lyrics are essentially addressed to then-absent guitarist Dino Cazares.

* Dino Cazares – guitars, backing vocals (1989–2002, 2009–present)

* Tony Campos - bass, backing vocals (2015-2020)

* CelebrityResemblance - Burton looks like he could be the brother of [[GroundedForLife Donal Logue]].

* [[Music/{{Malignancy}} Mike Heller]] – drums (2012-present)