Former FEAR FACTORY singer Burton C. Bell recently spoke to Eonmusic about "Apocrypha", the second album from his long-running project ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow. On "Apocrypha": Burton: "It's something that I've been working on for literally ten years. ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS, to me, is the most personal and the most representational piece of work I've ever done in my entire career. So, FEAR FACTORY fans can actually get an in depth look into the sounds that were created for FEAR FACTORY. So, there are a lot of similarities, and there are a lot of differences as well." On working with BLACK SABBATH's Geezer Butler on 1995's "Plastic Planet" album (which is being re-released on October 30 via BMG): Burton: "Obviously I was a fan of BLACK SABBATH already, and to be working with... It's fucking Geezer Butler, you know what I mean? So he took me up to his studio which was an attic, and it was like a BLACK SABBATH museum, and my heart was just, like, eek! I was looking at everything, trying to hold my jaw up. I saw the 'Sabotage' platinum record on the wall, and I said, "Goddamnit, that was the first record I loved by BLACK SABBATH. It's my favorite record by BLACK SABBATH.' And he looked at me like I was crazy, and he, was, like, 'Really?! That record?!'" On not being asked back to work on Geezer's "Black Science" album in 1997: Burton: "I was disappointed that I wasn't used again, but they wanted someone that had more of an open schedule, I guess. 'Demanufacture' did very well right after that, and I was touring that and G/Z/R, so I was busy. But yeah, I'm not really sure why I wasn't on the second record. But regardless, I am very proud of the work that we did on 'Plastic Planet', and I'm just honored to have the opportunity." On not being able to play FEAR FACTORY's planned "Obsolete" anniversary shows due to legalities: Burton: "There was things that happened that just kept us from doing that, so yeah, I'm very sad that that never happened, because that would have been really cool.Yeah, I was totally stifled, and it was beyond my control in that FEAR FACTORY camp." Read the entire interview at Eonmusic. Late last month, Bell issued a statement officially announcing his departure from FEAR FACTORY, saying that he "cannot align" himself with someone whom he does not trust or respect. Bell's exit from FEAR FACTORY came more than two weeks after FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares launched a GoFundMe campaign to assist him with the production costs associated with the release of FEAR FACTORY's long-awaited new album.
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