By Aaron Small

The biggest difference between DIVINE HERESY’s debut album, Bleed The Fifth, and its successor, Bringer Of Plagues, is the change in vocals. Original singer Tommy Cummings was fired in April ’08 due to “major issues” including pushing founding guitarist Dino Cazares while on stage in the midst of a show. To keep the band on the road, Jake Veredika of PERIPHERY stepped in. However Jake was only a temporary replacement. Divine Heresy’s new vocalist is Travis Neal.

Cazares, best known as the guitarist for FEAR FACTORY, relates how Divine Heresy decided upon their new singer. “We released instrumental tracks of ‘Failed Creation’ and ‘Savior Self’ on the MySpace page , which people were able to download and record their own vocal tracks over it. A lot of people sent them back, maybe 100+. Listening to all that stuff was definitely time consuming, but we went through every one of them. We narrowed it down to the final 20, who we invited to the rehearsal room to see how they were live and meet them in person. Then it was the final five, of which Travis was one. We really liked Travis. We knew he could sing, but we didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. When I put Divine Heresy together (in 2006), I didn’t know these guys. So you’re taking a chance by putting guys in the band that you don’t know. You might not get along. They could be crazy, psychotic or a drug addict… when you’re on the road, you really find out who a person is.”

“It can get pretty bad out there and you’re in survival mode. There’s guys that crack on the road, they can’t handle it. They want to go home. They miss their wives or girlfriends. The road is not for everybody. With that being said, we wanted to take Travis on the road to see how he was and if he could handle it? Tim (Yeung, drums), Joe (Payne, bass) and I are road dogs. We know what it’s like to eat shit. Tommy didn’t know that and when he was out there, he was the biggest baby of all. So Travis was out there and he was a road dog. We did it raw. We weren’t in a big bus with a road crew. We lugged our own gear and sold our own merchandise. We wanted to make certain Travis was willing to make those sacrifices, eating shitty fucking backstage nachos. And he was that guy! He didn’t complain about anything. So he passed that test. Then we wanted to write a song with him and see how it went collaborating together. ‘Face Breaker’ was the first song and he jumped right in – wow! Travis comes from a metal background. He was in a thrash band called PUSHED with Jon Dette, who was in SLAYER and Greg Christian, the bass player from TESTAMENT. He was in a melodic death metal band from Sweden called THE BEREAVED. We get along with Travis, he works hard on the road and in the studio – this is our guy!”

Another aspect separating the two Divine Heresy albums is the bass. On Bleed The Fifth, Dino laid down the tracks, yet on Bringer Of Plagues, it’s Joe Payne playing bass. “Oh fuck yeah! Joe fucking ripped it! He plays bass better than I play guitar,” enthuses Cazares. “For the most part, Tim and I wrote a lot of the stuff. You can kind of see it, it’s very drum/guitar oriented. Jamming with Tim for the last four years, we obviously progressed together. To me, he’s one of the best drummers right now – everything from speed to technicality to groove, all the cymbal work and the patterns, it amazes you! Crafting the kind of music that we did on this record, we wanted to make sure it was sick to listen to, but at the same time very catchy and simple to get. That was something Tim and I developed.”

Divine Heresy recently shot a video for the aforementioned ‘Face Breaker’. “We just filmed it two weeks ago. It has a very apocalyptic-looking theme. The city is going to look like a nuclear bomb just hit it. There’ll be ash flying all around us. It’s taking a while because we’re doing a lot of CGI (computer generated imaging) graphics over it. We played in front of a green screen, but even that looks sick. I wanted to make sure the cameraman really got the details of the instruments. You see everything up close.”

For the production on Bringer Of Plagues, Dirty Icon (which is the team of former MACHINE HEAD/SOULFLY guitarist Logan Mader and Lucas Banker) who helmed Bleed The Fifth was rehired. “I’ve been working with Logan for a while now,” says Dino. “I did the Roadrunner All-Stars and ASESINO with him. He really understands what I like, musically and production-wise. He’s one of those producers that doesn’t give his opinion unless it’s really necessary. He pretty much lets the band take control. We did actually talk to a couple other guys, but we love Logan so we went with him. It was a really smooth recording. It was so smooth; we thought something was wrong because nothing was wrong. It worked out really well and we’re very happy.”

When it comes to the lyrics on Bringer Of Plagues, “Travis is responsible for 90% of it. We all give our two cents, a few words here and there. I’m not really a good lyricist, but I can tell you if something sounds dumb,” laughs Dino. Song titles such as ‘Redefine’ and ‘Darkness Embedded’ make sense and are pretty much expected, although ‘The Battle Of J Casey’ sticks out like a sore thumb. “I know. It does not make sense. Basically, Travis and his friend Jason Casey wrote that song. It’s a personal struggle that Jason went through. We thought it was really cool. The battle is like the strife this guy’s gone through. At one point, the lyrics were very negative. It looked like this guy was living in the gutter, which he kind of was. So we switched it up a little bit to make it look like there was a positive outcome.”

‘Letter To Mother’ seems equally out of place, however, “That’s about a serial killer, Albert Fish (1870 – 1936), who fuckin’ raped and ate this little girl and he wrote a letter to her mother explaining what he did to her. We thought it was so fucked up that we wrote about it. It was pretty brutal. It’s very MACABRE – that band is hilarious. Their lyrics are great. We did it in a twisted way, not a funny way. It definitely stands out.”

While promoting the new Divine Heresy disc, Dino is simultaneously working on a new Fear Factory album. Yet the current lineup is not the classic one. It features Dino, vocalist Burton C. Bell, bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan. “Ooh yeah! We are extremely fucking happy! We’re writing a great record. The really cool thing about it is, a lot of the intensity I had with Divine Heresy in jamming with Tim Yeung, we just finished the record a month and a half ago. I’m still carrying that vibe into what I’m doing now with Fear Factory. This record is not going to be any wimpy-ass Transgression bullshit. It’s going to be some fucking heavy shit! I’m jamming with two of the fucking sickest drummers in metal – Tim Yeung (HATE ETERNAL, VITAL REMAINS) and Gene Hoglan (DARK ANGEL, DEATH, TESTAMENT, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD). Shit’s coming out fucking amazing and we’re excited! About a year ago, Burton was singing with MINISTRY and I was at the concert. We ran into each other and started talking. I found out he had wanted to talk to me for a long time. He felt bad about what happened (Fear Factory’s break-up in 2002) and wanted to bury that hatchet. So we talked to each other for months and then he decided to put this back together. Burton told me he was going to meet up with Raymond (Herrera, drummer) and Christian (Olde Wolbers, bassist) and talk to them. I know he had conversations with both guys quite a few times. Raymond and Christian were not into the idea of putting it back together. So Burton let them know he was moving forward without them, and that’s exactly what he did.”

“Burt got Gene and Byron and me in the band. It’s pretty much cut and dry, very simple. I know Raymond and Christian are saying a lot of stuff in the press. The best analogy I can give it is, if you were dating a girl and you loved her. You were going to marry her and all of a sudden she breaks up with you. She does not want to be with you because of an argument you had over something stupid. She’s banging other dudes and you’re still in love with her. You’d still take her back. You’d die for her – there’s a lot of dudes who go through this shit by the way,” chuckles Dino. “You’d do anything for this girl. You ask her if she’ll come back, as pathetic as that sounds. She says, ‘No! Fuck you! I’m fucking other guys and having fun being single.’ So finally you move on and start dating other chicks. You find one you like, fall in love and stay with her. Then the old chick finds out and says she’ll come back. You say, sorry too late. I’m with somebody else. That’s the best analogy I can give you as to what’s happening right now.”

Unbeknownst to Dino, Raymond revealed exclusively to BraveWords.com that he and Christian had filed a lawsuit against Cazares and Bell over their use of the Fear Factory name. “Oh really? They did? My lawyer has not told me anything about a lawsuit they filed against us. It’s funny that he says that. I don’t know where he’s coming from? Maybe that’s something they want to do? But they haven’t done it yet. It’s actually the opposite. One year ago, Burt filed a lawsuit against them. The conversations that Burton and Raymond had, Raymond basically said ‘Fuck you, I’m not coming back.’ So Burt moved forward, simple as that. Then one month later, Raymond calls us back and Burton’s like sorry, I’ve got another girlfriend. Yes, there are issues about the name. We all do have rights to the name. That is true. But they can go and start Fear Factory as well. They can call ARKAEA Fear Factory. A lot of this stuff is not meant for the press to really know. Unfortunately, because of what Raymond is saying in the press, Burton and I feel that in some ways, we need to defend ourselves from the situation. We can’t reveal too much information because yeah, there are legal issues.”

Therefore, the speculation that Dino and Burton cancelled the recent European and Australian Fear Factory tours because of this alleged lawsuit surrounding the use of the name appears to be false. “The speculation that we cancelled the shows because of legal reasons – that is not the case. Burton released a statement a few days after the cancellations saying that we needed to write the new album, which is true. We feel it’s more important to put out a classic fucking record, than go and play some shows to make a quick buck. Nothing against the fans, I’m sure they’re disappointed we decided to make the album (instead of tour). But in the long run, they’ll be happy. It’s coming out fucking sick! It’s what Fear Factory should be. A lot of people are saying, ‘Gene’s not Raymond. He won’t fit in the band.’ If you really look at it, how many bands has Gene done? Would people hire Gene because he’s a one-trick pony? Or would people hire Gene because he can adapt to any band? Raymond, how many bands has he done? Gene is more talented than people are giving him credit for. The guy can play pretty much anything. What I like about what’s being written now is it’s got other elements. It’s not just a typical Fear Factory record. Times have changed, music’s changed and my ideas have grown. I want people to understand that when they hear this record. It’s going to be a ripping album. It’s going to be more in the modern sense of what’s happening today, still retaining the classic FF element.” The as yet untitled album is due for release in the first quarter of 2010.