"It helped me explore things more melodically," says Cazares. "I was able to play melodic high notes and the low bass notes. There's so much room for creativity because you've got that extra string. I was tuning my 6-string down to B already, so by the time I got it, it was pretty easy for me to adapt."
The band's Rock Radio success with a cover of the Gary Numan song Cars showed more diversity. The latest incarnation of Fear Factory will be delivered in their first dvd, Digital Connectivity. The disk will be the first Roadrunner release in 2002 on January 15.
For a player who has explored styles ranging from the depths of Black Sabbath to the speed of Pantera, utilizing alternate tunings was not a straightforward approach. "I've always had a problem tuning a 6-string down to B," says Cazares. "It would go out of tune, you would have to hit [the strings] really light. When you tune a 6-string down, it's really floppy - it's like spaghetti. The tension's tight [with the 7-string]."
Conceptually, Fear Factory treads on Sci-Fi and X-Files-tinged themes. Musically, Obsolete ventured into progressive waters, and incorporated vast, keyboards with brutal, but organic, components. The band acts as a team to fill these heavy shoes. "We all write together," says Cazares. "When I write a song at home, I can only imagine what the drums are going to sound like. We get inspired from each other and we feed off of each other. If it wasn't for my drummer I wouldn't be able to write some of the riffs that I write."
Intertwined with Cazares' melodic approach and aggressive rhythms lurk underlying hip hop elements such as the song Edgecrusher. Dino tunes his guitars to adapt to Fear Factory's diverse brand of agro-rock. Most of Obsolete is tuned in A. Live, Cazares vacillates between and A and B. Touring in the past with the likes of Slayer (and on Ozzfest), he usually takes four guitars on the road (two, tuned-A, and two - B). "I bring what's necessary. I'm not really the kind of player who likes to go out and break guitars, like some do. I treat my babies with kindness," laughed Cazares.
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