In a new interview with Tom Wilson of Australia’s Sense Music Media, former FEAR FACTORY singer Burton C. Bell commented on ex-FEAR FACTORY bassist Christian Olde Wolbers’s recent announcement that he was launching a new project called ANGST FABRIK. Burton said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “ANGST FABRIK. It’s how Germans say FEAR FACTORY. And we came across that — we played a venue called Angst Fabrik in Germany years ago.”But I saw Christian at NAMM [this past January],” Bell continued. “And we spoke and hugged, and it was good to run into him. I’m glad to see that he is doing well. But I don’t really think anything about it [laughs], about what he is doing. I mean, more power to him. But there’s really only one FEAR FACTORY. There was one FEAR FACTORY, I should say that.”Reflecting on his time with the pioneering Los Angeles-based industrial metal act, Burton added: “I’m proud of everything I did in FEAR FACTORY. We did some really great music. We did a couple boners here and there, but they all can’t be winners.”According to the official ANGST FABRIK Instagram page, the group’s debut album is tentatively due in 2026.Bell issued two solo singles in 2024 — “Anti-Droid” and “Technical Exorcism” — and a cover of RAMMSTEIN’s “Du Hast” in 2023.Bell played the first concert with his solo band on June 13, 2024 at 1720 in Los Angeles, California.Backing Bell at his recent gigs have been guitarist Henrik Linde (THE VITALS, DREN),drummer Ryan “Junior” Kittlitz (ALL HAIL THE YETI, THE ACID HELPS),bassist Tony Baumeister (ÆGES) and multi-instrumentalist Stewart Cararas.Bell’s discography includes multiple live and recorded collaborations with BLACK SABBATH icon Geezer Butler and JOURNEY’s Deen Castronovo (as G/Z/R); industrial maverick Al Jourgensen and MINISTRY; and guest vocal appearances with PITCHSHIFTER, CONFLICT, SOIL, STATIC-X, SOULFLY and DELAIN, among others. He’s the vocalist of ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS and CITY OF FIRE and, of course, the co-creator of FEAR FACTORY and the only musician to appear on every FEAR FACTORY release from 1992 through 2024.FEAR FACTORY created a sound that revolutionized extreme metal, defined in no small part by Bell’s innovative scream/sing dichotomy and the influences he brought from post-punk and industrial. Songs like “Replica”, “Linchpin”, “Edgecrusher”, “Fear Campaign”, “Archetype”, “Cyber Waste” and “Zero Signal” are modern metal anthems. “Demanufacture” (1995) and the RIAA gold-certified “Obsolete” (1998) are genre-redefining works heralded by fans and critics as essential albums. Orwell, Bradbury, “Blade Runner”, and sophisticated sci-fi and fantasy works fed Bell’s lyrics and concepts.The band toured the world with METALLICA, SLIPKNOT, KORN, MEGADETH and OZZY OSBOURNE, taking bands like SYSTEM OF A DOWN and STATIC-X out as support acts in their early stages. After years of behind-the-scenes band member turmoil and legal issues, Bell left FEAR FACTORY in the fall of 2020.The 56-year-old Bell had been largely inactive on the musical front since officially announcing his departure from FEAR FACTORY in September 2020. At the time he said that he could not “align” himself with someone whom he did not trust or respect, an apparent reference to FEAR FACTORY founding guitarist Dino Cazares. Bell has since been replaced in the band by the Italian-born singer Milo Silvestro.[embedded content]