Burton C. Bell is a American, Grammy nominated artist that has been working steadily in the professional music industry since 1992. Cofounder of the seminal industrial/metal band Fear Factory, Burton’s unique vocal style helped to inspire an entirely new genre, and era, of established artists. Some say that his visions of the future, through his lyrics and writings, are now manifesting in today’s world. In 1998, Fear Factory received a Gold Record for their third album, Obsolete. Fear Factory toured extensively for many years, selling over a million albums worldwide.
Burton has had the opportunity to work with many notable and diverse artists throughout his career, as well as appearing as a guest vocalist for many bands, as a well as a featured vocalist. Burton was featured as the vocalist on Geezer Butler’s (Black Sabbath) first solo album G//Z/R, Plastic Planet.
He recorded a duet with Gary Numan for Numan’s own song Cars, as well as a video. He recorded a duet with Cypress Hill’s B-Real on Fear Factory’s album, Digimortal. He collaborated with Al Jourgensen on two Ministry albums; The Last Sucker, and Amerikkkant. Burton also toured with Ministry as a special guest vocalist in support of those albums.
In 2002, Burton founded the band Ascension of The Watchers. This band explores the textured soundscapes and melodies that inspires his creativity. Their first EP, Iconoclast, was released independently in 2004. In 2008, Burton signed with Al Jourgensen’s label, 13th Planet, to release their first full length album, Numinosum. That same year, AOTW was invited by Killing Joke to be direct support for their reunion tour, to honor the memory of their dear friend and bassist, Paul Raven. In 2020, AOTW released their latest album, Apocrypha, through Dissonance Productions.
Burton C. Bell departed Fear Factory in 2020, to focus on Ascension of The Watchers, and all his future creative endeavors. Burton’s last appearance with Fear Factory is on the album Aggression Continuum, through Nuclear Blast Entertainment.