FEAR FACTORY/ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS Singer Burton C. Bell - "I've Never Really Considered Myself A Metal Guy"
January 4, 2008, 16 years ago
The following report is courtesy of MTV.com:
FEAR FACTORY singer Burton C. Bell's new band, ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS, are a dream come true — literally.
The musical vibe, artwork and title for the band's full-length debut all stemmed from a dream Bell had in 2000. In it, he was traveling over vast expanses of land and came to a clearing, where he saw a burning tree. The branches were silhouetted against the bright sky and Bell was struck with a sense of peace and awe. Then, he realized someone was behind him, but when he turned around, he woke up.
Unable to shake the dream from his mind, the singer discussed the imagery with a friend, who is an expert in dream analysis, and she told him that he had experienced a numinosum, a term famous psychologist Carl Jung used to refer to a mystical or religious experience that occurs outside oneself.
"That dream has stayed with me and inspired me, and I think the creation of this record has been truly a dream experience for me," Bell said. "I've always felt my dreams are pretty much reality. I wake up exhausted because they're so intense."With roots in spirituality and surreal dreams, it's no surprise that Ascension of the Watchers' Numinosum, which comes out February 19, isn't a blazing metal album. Rather, the songs are melancholy and atmospheric, resembling '80s and '90s goth-rock bands such as the MISSION UK, SWANS, FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM and Pornography-era CURE.
"I've never really considered myself a metal guy," Bell admitted. "Yeah, I've been in a metal-industrial band, but the music I've always listened to has been much different, which is maybe why the vocals I did with Fear Factory were different than those of other metal singers. But I definitely wanted to do something much different this time. The music is completely personal, and it lets me try techniques I haven't previously had the chance to explore. We used to always say we were expanding the boundaries in Fear Factory. Well, now I'm really stepping out of the boundaries."Read more here.
