5. Fear Factory, The Industrialist
“Dino and Burton are the industrial-metal dream team and The Industrialist proves how great and tenacious they are.”

4. Cynic, The Portal Tapes
“I’ve been waiting over 10 years to witness the album see the light of day. I’m so thrilled the Cynic guys got on this and put it out. It’s a true gem–one of my faves for sure.”

3. Aborted, Global Flatline
“The new Aborted album further strengthens their place in modern death metal. An amazing album with some of the best artwork and packaging I’ve seen all year.”

2. Dying Fetus, Reign Supreme
“Dying Fetus. That’s all I have to say. They are death-metal overlords. Just listen to the track, ‘In the Trenches’ and see why.”

1. Napalm Death, Utilitarian
“Anything Napalm Death outs out is the best grind. I love them–they ALWAYS deliver!”

In the meantime, we’re asking you to choose 2012′s Song of the Year. We’ve put together a list of the biggest and baddest songs in hard rock and heavy metal below; all you have to do is pick the best. And feel free to vote as many times as you want–until the poll ends on January 1.

UPDATE: The poll is closed. For the results, click right here.

Fear Factory have announced a U.S. headlining tour that kicks off August 1 in Fresno, California.

The tour represents the next segment of the The World Industrialist Tour 2012, which includes stops at this year’s Juggalo Gathering in Cave In Rock, Illinois, alongside Soulfly, Static X, DMX, Onyx and George Clinton.

Additional dates will be announced in the coming days. In the meantime, check out the current dates below.

“We are really looking forward to getting back on tour to play classic Fear Factory songs and new songs from The Industrialist,” said guitarist Dino Cazares. (Buy the new album on iTunes.)

Keep up with Fear Factory at their official website and Facebook page.

FEAR FACTORY: The World Industrialist Tour 2012:

8/01/2012 The Starline – Fresno, CA
8/02/2012 Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
8/03/2012 Marquee Theatre – Tempe, AZ
8/05/2012 Cheyenne Saloon – Las Vegas, NV
8/07/2012 Sunshine Theatre – Albuquerque, NM
8/09/2012 Juggalo Gathering – Cave In Rock, IL
8/10/2012 Piere’s – Ft. Wayne, IN
8/11/2012 WIIL Rock Fest – Twin Lakes, WI
8/12/2012 Emerald Theatre – Mt. Clemens, MI
8/14/2012 Altar Bar – Pittsburgh, PA
8/15/2012 Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ
8/16/2012 Chance – Poughkeepsie, NY
8/17/2012 Reverb – Reading, PA
8/18/2012 Coliseo Roberto Clelemente – San Juan, PR
8/19/2012 Revolution – Amityville, NY

Fear Factory have announced they won’t be taking part in this summer’s Shockwave Tour, which is slated to start tomorrow, July 6, in Seattle.

“We are truly disappointed not to be part of the Shockwave tour,” announced the band in an official statement, which does not provide a reason for the cancellation. “We send our sincerest apologies to all our North American fans planning to come out this summer, but we will be back. Please look for Fear Factory headlining dates in August.”

The band’s new album, The Industrialist, was released June 5 via Candlelight Records. Revolver, which gave it four out of five stars, praised the album’s “same pulsating, angry urgency of old…nicely counterbalanced by some incredibly deft melodies.” Buy it on iTunes.

The Industrialist is the second album written by vocalist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares since reuniting in 2009 after a seven-year split.

For more about the band, visit fearfactory.com or the band’s Facebook page.

After welcoming guitarist Dino Cazares back into the band and putting out a successful seventh studio album, Mechanize, in early 2010, modern metal giants Fear Factory have returned.

Their follow-up album, The Industrialist, is ready to release early next month. This conceptual record also features bassist Matt DeVries, who replaced Byron Stroud.

I caught up with Cazares on May 15 to discuss the making of the album, lineup changes and his gear setup. Read the conversation below, and check out Fear Factory’s Facebook page for up-to-date info on the album and the band’s tour dates.

Your new album, The Industrialist, is coming out June 5, and it’s supposed to be a concept album. What’s that all about, and how did you guys decide to do a concept album?

Well, we’ve always been doing concept records ever since the early days, from Demanufacture, Obselete, Digimortal and so on, but this time we decided to take it a little bit further. We’ve always been presenting the concept of man versus technology and man versus machine. The past records have been about the perspective of the human, but this one is about the automaton, which is a robot.

The concept is about his perception, what the automaton sees, what he feels and what he learns. He’s basically a robot that collects memories and stores them. He’s fighting for his life, and for other automatons. We as humans built the automaton to help us for everyday life, but he basically turns against humans. And that’s what the story is about.

Do you think the music also is a story in itself, as in, the songs are linked to each other?

They are roughly linked to each other, yes. Burton wrote the whole story to fit with the order of the songs. So they are linked together. Musically I believe I tried to capture the soundtrack of what I saw visually in my head. I tried to write the soundtrack to the story. That’s basically what the album does.

The previous album, Mechanize, was your first album since your return to the band. This one is coming out almost exactly two years after that. Would you say it was easier for you to write this one, because you’ve been with the band for a couple of years?

Well, every project I worked on, I’ve tried to put as much as I possibly can. I dedicate myself to the project, and nothing really is too difficult for me. There are times where we go through small periods of writer’s block, but for me, I don’t really go through that too much. So it comes pretty quickly. Me and Burton started Fear Factory in 1999, so Fear Factory is in me. Every other band that I play in, you can hear my style, and you can hear Fear Factory in everything I do. So, this record was easy, not easier than the last record.

Head to GuitarWorld.com to read the rest of this interview.