BURTON C BELL OVERCOMES FEAR FACTORY

Burton C Bell has released his latest project, Ascension Of The Watchers Numinosum, and he talks about overcoming Fear Factory.

Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory fame, has branched out with his new project titled Ascension Of The Watchers and the debut album Numinosum. The album is Bell’s first venture away from Fear Factory, and he teams with Ministry and Killing Joke’s John Bechdel on the effort.

The effort is substantially different than his work with Fear Factory, and he said that he has to be true to himself, despite the naysayers.

“I did not want to fear. I’ve been in a band called Fear Factory for so long and telling… One of the things I’ve been telling people is have an open mind. I’ve been saying that through the whole process of Fear Factory. Listen with an open mind. You must have an open mind to go through life, and that’s almost my mantra. And this record, it’s a very different record than what people are used to from me. Some people are flipped out and some people hate it. Yeah, I can understand that, if you’re not into it. Believe me I’ve had my share of hate mail over this record, but the positivity definitely outweighs the animosity. But that’s cool. People can like it too. I’m doing it for myself, and that’s important.”

Ascension Of The Watchers listens more like a soundtrack, and Bell admitted that he’s just at a different place in his life.

“The past few years has been a lot of introspection, and a lot of thought, and a lot of time to myself and a lot of thinking about my future and my role as a person and my role as a father and a role as a human being. The music that Fear Factory had been writing for so long, there was like a certain calling for it, but I’ve come to the realization that there’s so much violence and so much aggression in this world already that I’m almost kind of tired of adding to it. Even though there’s more to Fear Factory than that it’s very angry almost violent music. I feel that I’ve refined myself as a person through life, and I’ve learned a lot. I’m not that angry young kid anymore that I started with Fear Factory. I’m a 39 year old man with children, and if that doesn’t change you there’s something wrong with you.”

Bell and Ascension Of The Watchers will tour with Ministry during their final go-around, and it’s appropriate considering he guested on Ministry’s Cover Up album and his new outfit is signed to Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen’s new label 13th Planet.