This is the closing track from the Christian metal band The Devil Wears Prada's fourth studio album Dead Throne. Vocalist Mike Hrancia told Alternative Press: "Lyrically, it's the most positive song. I thought it was cool to end the record with optimism, which is weird, because in retrospect I've always thought you end the record super heavy and super angry and leave people on that bitter note. To me, Dead Throne is very depressing. The end of the song is cool as far as just absolute vocal chaos."

Guitarist Chris Rubey based the song on a cover of Big Tymers' rap song "Still Fly," which the band recorded in 2008 for the Punk Goes Crunk compilation album. He told Alternative Press: That one truthfully was written right after Branches came out, and we were like, 'Well, let's write a song that if it ever was to be our radio song, would be our radio song.' 'Still Fly' on that Punk Goes Crunk [compilation], that's still our number one song on iTunes, and I was just asking myself what makes people like songs like this. Because to me it's just kind of repetitive; I broke down the song structure and it's just chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse…

So I used the same structure as 'Still Fly' but tried to write a way better, more metal song. I was telling myself when I was coming up with the riffs and everything, 'Write harder Killswitch, more metal Killswitch.' I think it's the most different song. It doesn't necessarily sit with the rest of the album. I think it's the most With Roots Above-esque song on the album, but I think there [will be] a lot of people that are going to desire that, so that song is for them."

Guitarist Jeremy DePoyster said that he wrote this song in an attempt to combine the heavier sides of the band's Metal sound with a straightforward Pop song structure. The idea was to produce a song that was both loud and aggressive while still having a catchy, radio-friendly appeal.

"Holdfast" is an optimistic song wherein Mike Hranica denounces the power of negativity and swears the he'll always find a way to be strong and overcome the obstacles in his life. The song also explicitly reflects the band's Christian faith with the line "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, for these words will never pass". The song name appears in the chorus, which is simply "We will not be forgotten, we will not be forgotten; holdfast." The song uses an intense allusive, metaphoric style that gives it a surreal, almost Biblical feel that further augments its religious themes.

This was the closing song on 2011's Dead Throne. Singer/lyricist Mike Hranica said that he wrote the song to stand out from the rest of the album: while Dead Throne is a very dark and depressing album, he wanted to end things on a positive, upbeat note.