Mechanize [Candlelight, 2010] marks the first release in five years from Fear Factory, and the first since 2001’s Digimortal [Roadrunner] to feature Dino Cazares on guitar.

Mechanize is the band’s seventh release to date, and features original members Cazares and vocalist Burton C. Bell, and a rhythm section not to be messed with in bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan, best known for their work together in Strapping Young Lad.

“Yeah, Strapping Young Lad and the many, many other projects they’ve worked on. It’s been great because these guys are real professional musicians. These guys definitely know what’s up,” Cazares nods.

“And they certainly influenced the band’s sound. I’m not going to say it was a lot, but they definitely brought their two cents in,” he adds. “And just jamming with those guys is crazy!”

Stroud and Hoglan aren’t the band’s only Canadian connection, either. Long-time collaborator Rhys Fulber is back in the programmer’s chair, and produced the album.

“On Mechanize, specifically, he brought his production skills and he brought all the keyboards and samples on the record. Those were all his ideas,” Cazares explains.

“Rhys, back in the early days, really helped us develop our sound. We were a metal band wanting to be more of an industrial band and he really helped develop that sound,” he adds.

“Rhys started with us back in 1992 and we did our first remix EP together called Fear Is A Mindkiller [Roadrunner, 1993] and then he co-mixed the album Demanufacture [Roadrunner, 1995], and then produced Obsolete [Roadrunner, 1998] and Digimortal,” Cazares notes of the oft under-credited Canadian.

“But yeah, we’ve made a lot of records in Canada, we’ve made some videos in Canada, and we just can’t get away from Canada!” he laughs, then sings “Oh Canada, oh Canada,” to the tune of South Park’s infamous ditty “Blame Canada.”

Cazares is a riot, good-natured, and obviously stoked about the latest release.

“It just feels really good to be able to come back and collaborate with Burton again and being able to make a whole new record with a bunch of new guys. I think the record came out great, and I think the chemistry of all the band members shows really well on the record,” Cazares says enthusiastically.

When you listen to their latest offering, it’s clear all the shadows that may or may not have plagued Cazares’ and Bell’s relationship in the past have been slaughtered, and the overall crushing pulse of this record marks a return to their unique chemistry that helped develop the Fear Factory sound in the first place.

“I think we have our signature style. I think that Burton’s vocal style is unique. He has these killer heavy vocals going into melodic vocals. And I think I have a distinct guitar sound and a guitar style that people can recognize right away,” Cazares reflects. “Burton was more into the industrial style, and I was definitely more of a speed metal thrash kind of grindcore dude, and we kept crashing together and the mixing of two chemicals came up with something great.”

He’s psyched be back in that kind of symbiotic writing relationship again and he couldn’t be happier with Mechanize.

One of the guitarist’s favourite songs on Mechanize is “Fear Campaign,” the third song on the 10-track album.

“I think it best sums up what the album is about, and its riffs musically. It started with a riff. It started with the second riff you hear on that song, and then just grew from there.”

Cazares is well known in music circles for his ability to write riffs just about anywhere.

“I was sitting on the toilet taking a shit and I was like, ‘Oh, riff, killer!’” he laughs when asked where “Fear Campaign” decided to enter his mind.

That might be a little too much information, but it’s proof positive that creativity really does strike the songwriter at random.

“They just pop in my head,” he shrugs, as if it were breathing to most everyone else. “I’ll be out at a restaurant or I’m walking down the street, a club or wherever, and I’ll be like ‘Argh, I’ve got a riff in my head!’

“Then, once they pop in my head, I think about how it would fit into a song and I try to build on the riff. If it’s good, I’ll remember it. But I’ll also record it right away. I have my little home studio, unless I’m away, then I’ll hum it into my phone so I won’t forget it.”

“Fear Campaign” is also “the first time that Fear Factory has really had a guitar solo on a song. It was just a section that was kind of blank and I thought, ‘Well, maybe I should throw a guitar solo on there,’ and Burt was like, ‘Well, it better be the right solo or it’s not going to go on the record!’ So I do the solo and he called me and he was like, ‘Dude… the solo…’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, what about it?’ And he goes ‘It’s…’ ‘It’s what?’ ‘It’s killer, keep it!’ I was like, ‘Phew!’ I thought he was going to tell me to cut it.”

While all four members of the band collaborated on Mechanize, the core of the songwriting was done by Cazares and Bell.

“Technically, what we wanted to do, was write an album that represents what Fear Factory means, and ‘Fear Factory’ is anything that manufactures fear. Obviously ‘Fear Campaign’ deals with that same issue, and ‘Christploitation’ is a song is about using the fear of god to say what’s right and wrong.”

While they were in the recording studio, Cazares admits he could hardly wait to hear each song in its final state.

“Usually when we write songs, we’ll record a demo version right away. But then I couldn’t wait to hear everything as it was done, like what Rhys was going to throw on top of it with all his keyboards and all his atmospheric sounds and industrial sounds. I couldn’t wait, and the whole record was like that. It’s exciting when you’re creating something new.”

Now that the record is complete and recently released, “I think phonically it sounds amazing. I think it’s true form of Fear Factory: what it’s about and what it represents. It’s a very aggressive album, beautifully melodic at times, and I think anybody who likes Fear Factory are going to love this record.”

According to Cazares, the band is currently making arrangements for a North American tour, and says they will be making tour stops in Alberta in April or May 2010.