Think about your favorite band. Picture the singer rocking out onstage. The guitarist laying down tracks in the studio. The members touring the world, playing their songs to thousands of screaming fans. Consider how much that group's music means to you on an emotional level. How much joy you get from listening to them. Now, try to imagine what it would be like to join that band. To literally be one of them. That fairytale fantasy is exactly what happened to Milo Silvestro, the new vocalist of industrial-metal titans Fear Factory.
Earlier this week, Fear Factory's sole original member and current bandleader, guitarist Dino Cazares, finally announced, after literal years of buildup, that Silvestro would be the guy replacing OG Fear Factory singer Burton C. Bell. The founding frontman had quit the band in 2020 after years of tension, lawsuits and public feuds between various other Fear Factory members past and present, which left Cazares in full control of the ship, also carrying bassist Tony Campos (also of Static-X) and drummer Mike Heller.
Despite the acrimonious split, Fear Factory went ahead and released their final album with Bell's vocals, Aggression Continuum, in 2021 (the singer recorded his parts in 2017), but the band's actual status remained in limbo. From the time Bell left, Cazares promised fans that he'd audition new singers and find a proper replacement, but COVID-19 waylaid those plans due to travel restrictions.
Fielding video auditions from the safety of his home, Cazares estimates he considered roughly 300 applicants before ultimately narrowing it down to Silvestro, who he had actually reached out to several years earlier for a potential Fear Factory solo spin-off (more on that later). Eventually, Silvestro, an Italian national who grew up in Rome, was finally able to travel abroad, audition in person and secure the gig for himself after a rigorous set of practice sessions.
"It still feels weird because sometimes I look at [Cazares] — the dude that's been an idol of mine for years — and now I'm fucking working with him," Silvestro tells Revolver, still visibly awestruck. "It's mind-blowing."
The frontman is calling in via Zoom from Cazares' home in the U.S., where Fear Factory have been busy rehearsing for their fast-approaching U.S. tour with Static-X. A few days after our call, on Saturday February 25th, Fear Factory will play their first show with the new guy on the mic, which will also double as the band's first live gig in nearly seven years. Most people in Silvestro's position would be shaking in their boots, but the newly-minted Fear Factory frontman comes from good musical stock.
Silvestro grew up in a family with two very musical parents. His mother is a vocal coach who works within the disiplines of classic rock, blues, gospel and jazz, and his father is a professional blues musician and songwriter. Silvestro actually began his own musical journey behind the drum kit, picking up the sticks at age 12 but not graduating to singing (clean or unclean) until his late teens. Since then, he's played in at least two semi-professional metal bands, and also runs a studio.
Like many of us, Silvestro got the headbanging bug around age 14 — beginning with gateway bands like Metallica, Pantera and Slipknot and then diving deeper. In the late 2000s, Silvestro was introduced to Fear Factory and they quickly became his favorite. Now, some 15 years later, he's fucking singing for them.
We spoke with Silvestro about his remarkable journey from fan to frontman, the audition process, his favorite Fear Factory songs, what he'd say to former Fear Factory singer Burton C. Bell, how he's handling the online haters and more.
DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU HEARD FEAR FACTORY?
Yeah. Actually, it was [with] a guy that played drums in one of my bands back in 2007. I knew [Fear Factory's] name and people around me were like, "Oh, Fear Factory are an iconic band." This guy played me a couple songs, I think they were "Linchpin" and "Resurrection." At first I was like, OK, I dig it. It's cool. But it grew on me more and more. ... The next year a guy in another band passed me the whole discography so I could check out [all their] music.
I remember the first album that hooked me was Digimortal, because I was a groove lover as a drummer. [It has] a lot of groove, a lot of rhythm, and it had a lot of interesting rhythmic patterns and creativity to it. And then from there, I got into other albums like Obsolete, Archetype and, of course, the classic Demanufacture. That was the moment when I started getting more and more crazy about Fear Factory. I ended up going to see them live in 2010. It was the Mechanize tour and it was an amazing experience. [I was] front row. Really crazy.
AT THAT POINT, COULD YOU EVEN CONCEIVE OF BEING UP THERE PLAYING WITH FEAR FACTORY?
Absolutely not. I always say when family and friends go, like, "Oh, this is your dream that came true." I'm like, this wasn't even a dream! It's way beyond expectations. My highest expectation was [to] maybe kind of succeed with one of my bands doing small tours — maybe in Europe, not even in the U.S., because the music scene today is not the Nineties. It's not so easy to become the next Slipknot or the next Metallica, especially in Italy.
My expectations [for my bands] weren't super high. But to be a member or even a singer of a huge band, and also my absolute, No. 1 favorite band, that wasn't even a dream. I didn't even dare dream about it.
When Dino hit me up, first of all, I was so shocked. But the thing was he was like, "I'm searching for vocalists for my solo project." Because back then, Fear Factory was [held up in a] legal suit, so he couldn't do anything with it. Meanwhile, he wanted a solo project, so I was like, OK, this is already huge for me to be part of a project with Dino. He's my idol. I have a picture with him as a fan more than 10 years ago. I am that much [of a] dedicated fan.
But when [it came out that] the previous singer left in 2020, then Dino hit me up and was like, "Now I'm going to have to audition for Fear Factory's singer. Did you still want to try?" I was like, What?! Until [that] day, I never even dreamed or imagined that I could actually run for that spot.
BECAUSE YOU WERE SO STARSTRUCK, DID YOU EVEN FEEL GOOD ENOUGH TO TRY OUT?
At first, I didn't even know if I could measure up to it. Will I be that good? Of course, you second guess yourself. Because it's so huge, and I never toured in my life, so you start to go, OK, now I really have to step up my game in a lot of areas. I'd been playing for 20 years, but mostly smaller local gigs in Rome, both with my metal bands and my parents' projects ... I did few gigs out of Rome, a few gigs in Italy, a few gigs abroad, but never actually toured for more than two or three days consecutively.
At first, I totally was like, OK, will I be able to make it? But then I was like, OK, Dino chose me. He's a smart guy. He's been in the music business for more than 30 years, so he probably knows what he's doing. I was like, OK, I've got to trust him. He chose me, there must be valid reason. I was like, OK, I can do it. [My audition was] in November 2021, so I had more than a year to get ready, psychologically and physically.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST REACTION WHEN YOU WERE ACTUALLY TOLD, "YOU'RE IN FEAR FACTORY NOW"?
Shock, actually. Because really, when I got here for the audition — I remember since the first day we were doing a bunch of covers, and then we left the rehearsal room. While walking, Dino told me, "Oh, you know what? I think I can work with you, so yeah, we can do it." It was that chill. It wasn't like, "OK, so you're officially in!" It was like, "I think I can work with you. Now, we just need to figure out the Visas, all the bureaucratic stuff." I was thinking, are you saying to me that I'm actually in? I was fucking freaking out. It was unbelievable.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR FAVORITE FEAR FACTORY SONG?
Well, it's really hard to pick up just one. One of my absolute favorites, which I'm really happy we're going to play in this tour, is "Dielectric." I don't know why. That chorus and melody give me a really positive vibe.
But [I have] a lot of favorite Fear Factory songs. "Shock." "Edgecrusher." I love "Securitron (Police State 2000)" — it's got a great chorus. [Then there's] of course "Linchpin" and "Resurrection." I'm a big-time fan of "Resurrection," "Timelessness." All the closers, pretty much. "Therapy for Pain," "Timelessness," "(Memory Imprints) Never End," "Final Exit." I love "Final Exit." Pretty much all the closers are really emotional. They can get me real emotional.
PICKING JUST ONE SONG IS HARD, BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR SINGLE FAVORITE FEAR FACTORY ALBUM?
It's hard to pick one album, too, but I would say somewhere between Obsolete and Digimortal, and maybe with a little bit of Genexus in [there]. Because Genexus, to me, was really a huge comeback. I really like Mechanize and The Industrialist. I love those albums. But Genexus, I love the fact that they put some of the groove elements back into the sound, like on Digimortal and Obsolete. There were parts with groove elements and parts with typical, fast Fear Factory things, and a lot of synth arrangements ... the synths are massive. [My favorite is] somewhere between Genexus and Obsolete, with maybe Obsolete being the very, very [best] one. Because besides the sound, [I love] the production, the songwriting, the riffs [and] the concept.
IN JUST A FEW DAYS YOU'RE PLAYING YOUR FIRST SHOW WITH FEAR FACTORY, WHICH IS ALSO THE BAND'S FIRST SHOW IN A LONG TIME. ARE YOU FEELING NERVOUS?
Yes, a little bit, but I always thought that being nervous is part of the game. My dad always told me, the moment that you're not scared of going onstage, you better quit music. I think it's supposed to be a really emotional thing, an emotional [moment in] your life. Also, the fact that it's my very first tour experience, my very first Fear Factory experience, my first huge [musical] experience in general, of course that makes me a little bit nervous.
But the good thing is that Dino and also the fans, fortunately enough, are making me really comfortable. I want to say thanks to them because they've been amazing. You're always scared about the hating, the negative comments and stuff, which I started seeing because my name had been leaking even before [I got the job] because of the [vocal] covers [I put on YouTube]. People were like, "Oh, this guy is really good, so maybe it could be him." Some haters started popping up: "Oh, he's fucking garbage." At first I was a little bit scared — and of course Dino had been preparing me for a long time. "Be prepared. Either in a good or bad way, it's going to be a shitstorm."
But fortunately enough, [when] the announcement came out, [the reaction] was 99.9 percent positive. The negative comments were mostly about [how] this band without [the] previous singer [Burton C. Bell] is not Fear Factory anymore. They just need to change the name, blah, blah, blah. Maybe one or two guys were like, "I don't like him. He sucks." But nothing that big to fuck with my brain or make me insecure. I was really happy to see literally thousands of people — either friends of mine, people that I know from Italy and totally unknown Fear Factory fans — going, "Welcome to the family, dude." It was a really amazing love showering. I'm so thankful and so humbled for that.
LIKE YOU SAID, BURTON WAS THE SINGER OF THIS BAND FOR MANY YEARS AND THERE'RE OBVIOUSLY PEOPLE WHO ONLY WANT TO HEAR HIM ON THE MIC. HOW DO YOU PLAN TO WIN THOSE SKEPTICAL FANS OVER?
I get that certain people are skeptical, because as a fan of music, as a metalhead and a fan of music in general, I know that metal fans are so dedicated, so crazy about their music, which is a good thing. It's almost like a religion. When your favorite band changes singers or a guitar player or whatever, you can feel a little bit sad about it. It can be hard to move on.
I had favorite bands of mine that changed either singers or drummers. Maybe I was so affectionate to the style of that musician, and then I had a hard time moving on. But then once I found myself in this position of being the actual guy that is replacing the previous one, now I realize even more that, yeah, sometimes it can be tough for a fan. But it's just something that you either get over, or you don't care about the band anymore.
What I want to say to [the doubters] is, I know you're skeptical, and it's totally understandable because the Fear Factory vocal legacy is so iconic. The vocals were so identifiable and iconic and it's like replacing James Hetfield in Metallica. What I want to say is that it's OK to be skeptical, but we are making sure that we're going to do this right. ... I've been working hard these past three years on the vocal style to make sure even the small nuances [are accounted for], how [Bell] pronounced certain things, how he goes from that note to that other note, how he pronounced certain screamed words.
Also, from a vocal effects standpoint, we're making sure that everything sounds exactly like the record. I brought a bunch of effects, which I'm a bit of a freak about because I also run a studio. I like to tweak some shit, so I brought them a bunch of shit. Dino, at first, was like, "What the fuck is this?," but then he was like, OK. I was like, "What if we recreate some of the vocal effects on the record, the beautiful delays which are parts of the vocal legacy?" Songs like "Self Bias Resistor," the beautiful chorus has got a lot of deeper delay. That's part of the vocal sound. That's also what makes Fear Factory's trademark sound.
IF YOU WERE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK WITH BURTON, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO HIM?
Well, first of all, I'm a fan of his. It's also because of him that I got here, ironically. I think I would say, "Thank you for inspiring me." Because since the first night that I heard Fear Factory, and even [more after] the first night I saw the band live, I was like, oh ... I don't know if it happens to you with your favorite singer, your favorite drummer, [but] you like everything. You like how he moves, how he sings, how he does pretty much everything. Stage presence, whatever. I was that inspired by him. I would [say to him], "Thank you so much."
HAS FEAR FACTORY STARTED WORKING ON ANY NEW MUSIC SINCE YOU'VE BECOME INVOLVED?
Not right now because right now it's all about tour preparation and rehearsing like crazy. I think new music is coming up later. I don't know. I still don't know when, so no news about it yet, but of course it's coming.
