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

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Charlie Daniels

Charlie DanielsSongwriter Interviews

Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

Dave Pirner of Soul AsylumSongwriter Interviews

Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

Kevin Godley

Kevin GodleySongwriter Interviews

Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.