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Former Fear Factory bassist Christian Olde Wolbers raised eyebrows in February 2025 when he announced his new project, Angst Fabrik — a name translating directly from German to “Fear Factory”, as per theprp. The moniker drew an immediate, ironic response from Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares, who pointed out that he had previously made a joke using that exact same name back in 2020.
Despite fan speculation that Angst Fabrik might serve as a new home for several former Fear Factory alumni, former vocalist Burton C. Bell poured cold water on those hopes in April 2025 by publicly distancing himself from the group. Bell’s decision to step back came as a surprise to many followers, particularly after he and Wolbers were spotted together earlier that January following years of legal disputes and public friction.
Momentum behind Christian Olde Wolbers’ new project surged earlier this month with the announcement that former Fear Factory drummer Raymond Herrera had come out of retirement to track drums in the studio. The news prompted a satirical response video from Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares, who is currently preparing to roll out the band’s first studio album with new vocalist Milo Silvestro following Burton C. Bell’s departure.
Shortly after the announcement of Herrera’s involvement, the project underwent a sudden rebranding. Its official social media pages were briefly taken down before reappearing under the new handle “Machines Of Hate”—a name that Wolbers and Herrera noted in their Instagram bio remains a working title. Like their previous name, “Machines Of Hate” carries deep ties to Fear Factory‘s legacy: it is a prominent line from the lyrics of “Self Bias Resistor” and served as the title for that track’s remix on the 1997 release “Remanufacture”.
