Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares is one of the architects of industrial metal, with a brutal, mechanized guitar tone that diehard fans can recognize from a single note. It's obvious that his band's music draws influence from industrial and synthwave of the 1980s, as well as the death metal of the early Nineties, but in a new interview with metalcore producer Joey Sturgis, Cazares revealed his five favorite albums ever, and none of them are what fans of Fear Factory might suspect.
Hailing classic thrash, shreddy glam metal and perhaps the No. 1 titans in alt-rock history, Cazares went through his personal top five and managed to seriously surprise us with one or two picks.
"It's really hard to narrow down because I have so many," he warned before his selections. Nevertheless, below are Cazares top five albums of all time.
1. Slayer - Reign in Blood
The first one has to be Slayer's Reign in Blood because it's dark, evil, fast. I just love the way that Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman picked. Plus, their stuff was always darker than the other bands.
2. Exodus - Bonded by Blood
Come on, man, the riffs! And you got Paul Baloff, the singer on [this] record. The "definitive" [singer] of thrash.
3. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Third one would have to be Metallica's Ride the Lightning because of James Hetfield's down-picking ... He had a lot of down-picking.
4. Van Halen - Van Halen
Fourth would have to be the first Van Halen record. Obviously because it's Eddie Van Halen. I love the guitar tone, that really inspired me to get an amp that sounded like that.
5. U2 - The Joshua Tree
And the fifth would be the U2 record called The Joshua Tree. It has a lot of meaning behind the record. You know, you have The Edge, his guitar tone used a lot of delays, which I really like. And of course Bono, the way he sings. I love the way he sings. It's a great record.