Burton C. Bell has been releasing solo singles into the world one at a time since 2023 — a RAMMSTEIN cover, then "Anti-Droid" and "Technical Exorcism", then "Savages" in May of last year. Anyone assuming those were a slow-motion album rollout was wrong. Speaking to Pierre Gutiérrez of Rock Talks, the former FEAR FACTORY vocalist said the debut solo record is nearly finished and it is almost entirely material nobody has heard.
"I'm here in L.A. finishing it up right now, recording," he said. "We have 11 songs, brand new songs. I got one more song to record — well, two more songs to finish — and then I'm gonna start shopping."
None of the previously released singles make the cut, with one exception he argued for himself. "It's 10 new songs — completely new songs," he said. "I think 'Savages' will be part of it, maybe like a bonus track, because 'Savages' is the first single I did with the band I'm currently working with. So I would like 'Savages' to be like a bonus track."
The refusal to pick a lane is deliberate, and it is the whole design brief. "Something I wanted to do with my solo career — I did not wanna focus on one particular band or one particular genre, because I've not only been in FEAR FACTORY, I was in G/Z/R, I was in ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS, and I was in CITY OF FIRE," he explained. "I was the guest vocalist for MINISTRY for a couple years. So what I decided to do was to encapsulate everything I've ever done. I love heavy, groovy, dark and moody music. So I'm taking all my favorite parts of all these bands and creating a whole new sound."
"I'm not trying to be FEAR FACTORY, I'm not trying to be CITY OF FIRE, I'm not trying to be THE WATCHERS, I'm not trying to be G/Z/R. But you can hear elements of everything I've ever done in all the new songs," he said. "It's still heavy, but it's obviously me singing."
He wants a label behind it, and he is candid about why: self-releasing the singles worked, and it wore him out. "Doing the singles on my own, it was good — it helped me keep my name out there — but it's a lot of work," he said. "And having a label come in… maybe we'll have some financial help from a label to where we could pay for P.R., that kind of stuff. Or maybe enough to get us on a tour." Asked who he would sign with, his answer was a shrug with a phone in its hand: "I'm gonna talk to whoever I can."
There may be guests, and he is not naming them yet. "A couple of people were suggested to me… I'm not gonna say any names, but there's a couple people I'm talking to — old friends."
His live band is guitarist Henrik Linde, drummer Ryan "Junior" Kittlitz, bassist Tony Baumeister and multi-instrumentalist Stewart Cararas. Earlier this month he announced "Obsolete By Word Of Mouth", three October spoken-word evenings marking 30 years of the FEAR FACTORY album.