Songfacts®:

• "Obliteration" is three and a half minutes of pure angst about the feeling of existential dread so many of us feel in the modern world. Filter mainman Richard Patrick's vocals convey his pain and despair as he describes a disintegrating world on the verge of obliteration. The lyrics are full of vivid imagery, such as "the world going numb" and "sinking my teeth in the pain." The lyrical pictures and the heavy, distorted guitars create a sense of chaos, urgency, and despair that reflects Patrick's emotional and psychological state.
• Patrick co-wrote "Obliteration" with:
  
  Nashville singer-songwriter Sam Tinnesz. A former guitarist in the contemporary Christian band MIKESCHAIR, Tinnesz's resumé includes writing for other CCM artists, such as Tommee Profitt ("Enemy") and Hawk Nelson ("Faithful").
  
  The songwriting and production team of Ian Scott and Mark Jackson. Scott and Jackson first came together in 2006 to produce and license songs and underscore for MTV shows like The Hills, Laguna Beach, and Real World/Road Rules Challenge. They went on to write for the likes of Bishop Briggs, Forever the Sickest Kids and Grandson.
• Patrick co-produced the track with Brian Virtue (Finch, Hawthorne Heights).
• German-based filmmaker Atanas Shopski created the animated video. "We decided to go for an element of hope in this world full of despair and show the struggle of the innocent with the merciless surroundings," he said. "We follow this girl, who is the last survivor after the obliteration of her world, on her dark adventure in search for other life."
• Filter recorded "Obliteration" for their eighth studio album, The Algorithm. It was initially conceived in 2018 as a successor to the band's debut album from 1995, Short Bus, under the title Rebus, but with contemporary sounds and concepts. The project took a different direction because of the collapse of the PledgeMusic crowdfunding platform.