Expiration Date

Album: Genexus (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Best known as a heavy metal band, Fear Factory surprised fans by featuring an electronic rock sound with all clean vocals on "Expiration Date," the closing track of Genexus. Vocalist Burton C. Bell told Rolling Stone: "I'm a big fan of melodic rock bands like U2 and even Sisters of Mercy and I've always integrated that influence into our music. It's funny because back when we first started, people heard this crazy death metal with screaming and then these clean vocals and they went, 'What the f--k is this?' They hated it."

    "Then later, kids who were too young to know us in 2000 heard us and thought we were ripping off Killswitch Engage, so you can't win. With Genexus we didn't want to do away with the melodic vocals, so we approached every song in a new way and used a combination of growls, melodic screams and clean singing. For 'Expiration Date' the music just didn't call for death metal vocals at all."
  • Genexus is a concept album foretelling a world where technology has evolved to such an extent that the differentiation between human and machine becomes invisible. This poignant song represents the moment in the story when the machines realize they have an expiration date and there's nothing they can do about it. Bell explained: "Everything comes to an end, even for machines. That is the one true thing in life: There is death. And it will happen to everything, including machines. That is something the machines are grappling with, just like humans try to grasp the concept of death. And maybe that makes them more human when they are trying to understand death."
  • The video was filmed with director Tommy Jones, who has also worked with Soilwork, Lamb of God and Testament, among others.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors Examined

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors ExaminedSong Writing

Doors expert Jim Cherry, author of The Doors Examined, talks about some of their defining songs and exposes some Jim Morrison myths.

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.

Edwin McCain

Edwin McCainSongwriter Interviews

"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.