Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released nine full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of groove metal and industrial metal. Fear Factory was enormously influential on the heavy metal scene in the mid-to-late 1990s.
Devin Garrett Townsend is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also had an extensive solo career and has released a total of 25 albums across all of his projects as of 2020.
Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing. By 1997, he had recruited permanent members; this line-up, which consisted of Townsend on vocals and guitar, Jed Simon on guitar, Byron Stroud on bass, and Gene Hoglan on drums, lasted until the band's dissolution.
Tenet is a heavy metal band formed as a side project by Jed Simon of Strapping Young Lad and Zimmers Hole.
Eugene Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer, acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of abstract devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms. His highly technical playing is extremely accurate at very high and challenging tempos, earning him the nicknames "The Atomic Clock" and "Human Drum Machine".
Accelerated Evolution is the sixth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, released in 2003. The album, written and produced by Townsend, was a mix of musical styles from alternative and hard rock to progressive metal. Townsend, the lead vocalist and guitarist, assembled a group of Vancouver musicians to perform with him on the album: guitarist Brian Waddell, drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen, bassist Mike Young, and keyboardist Dave Young. This lineup, the Devin Townsend Band, was Townsend's first dedicated lineup for his solo material, and was created as a counterpart to Townsend's extreme metal project Strapping Young Lad.
Byron Stroud is a Canadian bassist. He is the former bassist for metal bands Fear Factory and Strapping Young Lad, current bassist for metal bands City of Fire, Imonolith, and Zimmers Hole, and studio bassist for 3 Inches of Blood.
Zimmers Hole is a Canadian heavy metal band from Vancouver. The band formed in 1991, and features former Strapping Young Lad members Byron Stroud, Jed Simon and Gene Hoglan, along with vocalist Chris Valagao.
The Berzerker are an industrial death metal band from Melbourne, Australia and was formed in 1995. The band's music, heavily influenced by older death metal and grindcore, can be characterized as a fusion of these with speedcore, and gabber. The band's founding member Luke Kenny described the band's style as industrial death metal.
Steve "Zetro" Souza is an American vocalist, best known for his work with thrash metal band Exodus from 1986 to 1994, and again from 2002 to 2004. He rejoined Exodus for a third time in 2014. Souza is one of two singers, along with Chuck Billy, for the band Dublin Death Patrol. He also sings for the thrash metal band Tenet and was the lead singer for the thrash metal band Legacy. Souza recently announced his new project, Hatriot.
Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing is the debut album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on April 4, 1995. Century Media Europe released a remastered version of Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing on June 12, 2006, which includes the video for "S.Y.L.", several bonus tracks, and a 12-page booklet containing extended liner notes.
City is the second studio album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad, released on February 11, 1997. Frontman Devin Townsend assembled a permanent lineup of Strapping Young Lad to record the album, including prolific drummer Gene Hoglan, and Townsend's former bandmates Jed Simon on guitar and Byron Stroud on bass. The album was critically acclaimed, with Revolver naming it one of "the greatest metal albums of all time", and it is widely considered Strapping Young Lad's best work. The album was re-released in 2007 with several bonus tracks and altered cover art.
Strapping Young Lad is the eponymous third album by Canadian heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on February 11, 2003.
The New Black is the fifth and final studio album by Canadian heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on July 11, 2006, debuting at No. 200 on the Billboard charts. A music video was shot for the album's sole single, "Wrong Side", and another video, done in CGI, was made for the non-single song "Almost Again".
Jedson Louis Simon is a Canadian musician. He was a member of supergroup Scar the Martyr and has been a member of numerous metal bands, including Front Line Assembly, Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole, and TENET. He is currently a member of VIMIC.
Chris "The Heathen" Valagao is a heavy metal musician, best known as the front man for Canadian speed/thrash metal band Zimmers Hole.Chris is accomplished SPFX artist and pyrotechnician for film and television, director and producer of many music videos and a builder of custom motorcycles. He is of Portuguese and Norwegian heritage.
Mechanize is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Fear Factory. It is the only album to feature Gene Hoglan on drums and the first since 2001's Digimortal to include original guitarist and founding member Dino Cazares, who rejoined the band after a reconciliation with lead vocalist Burton C. Bell, in April 2009. The album was produced by Rhys Fulber, who had not produced or been involved with a Fear Factory album since Archetype. The album has received mostly positive reviews from fans and music critics, being praised for its very aggressive and heavy sound. In its first week of release, the album sold 10,000 copies.
Ani Kyd is a Canadian, Vancouver-based musician, actor, and life coach.
Trial Through Fire is the second album by City of Fire, the side project of Fear Factory vocalist Burton C. Bell alongside bassist Byron Stroud, drummer Bob Wagner and guitarist/producer Terry "Sho" Murray. The CD was recorded at The Factory studios in Vancouver, Canada.
Scar the Martyr was an American heavy metal band, consisting of Joey Jordison, Kris Norris, Jed Simon, Kyle Konkiel, and Matthew Tarach.
