It's certainly important to know what Raymond Herrera has been doing with his full-time progressive hard rock group, Fear Factory. It's important to know that they have an album, Digimortal, scheduled for release on Roadrunner around the time you read this. It's important to know that they'll continue to tour internationally, just as they've been doing relentlessly for years. And it's important to note that Digimortal is by far Herrera's best effort ever laid to tape (if not his most conservative and tasteful). Though Herrera hasn't changed his Tama kit setup much for the recording of the Factory's latest, his approach to performance has been noticeably altered.

"The way I play on this record is different from what I've done before," Herrera says. "It's a lot simpler. I'd still say this is brutal, but in comparison to our previous efforts, it's actually a lot more laid-back."

It should be noted that Herrera had a purpose behind this new method - and it certainly wasn't just for the sake of being different. "I just wanted to get people into the songs faster," he explains. "We wanted it to be real simple, and I think we've achieved that in every way possible."