"Descent" is a single by American heavy metal band

Fear Factory Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. ...

from their album ''

Obsolete Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no longer maintained or required even though it may still be in good working order. It usually happens when something that is more efficient or less risky r ...

''. It was the third single released and the fifth track on the album. The music was composed by

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist

Dino Cazares Dino Cazares (born in 1966) is an American musician, known for being the guitarist and one of the co-founders of industrial metal band Fear Factory. He is also the co-founder of the metal bands Divine Heresy, Asesino, and Brujeria. Cazares popu ...

and

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

mer

Raymond Herrera Raymond Herrera is an American musician and entrepreneur, best known as the former drummer and founding member of the heavy metal band Fear Factory. He is the former drummer for his previous band Brujeria and for industrial metal band Arkaea. He ...

, with lyrics by

Burton C. Bell Burton Christopher Bell (born February 19, 1969) is an American musician and vocalist. He is best known as the co-founder and former frontman of the metal band Fear Factory. Until 2021 he was the only member to perform on all of the band's album ...

. In the storyline of ''Obsolete's'' concept, "Descent" expresses the despair felt by the album's

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

, the

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...

Edgecrusher, as he rests briefly on his flight from the pursuing forces of Securitron. He questions the worth of his personal mission; in the end, he decides to continue his fight against his oppressors. "Descent" peaked at number 38 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Mainstream Rock chart.

Track listing

# Descent - 4:36 # Descent (Falling Deeper Mix) - 4:36 "Descent (Falling Deeper Mix)" also appears on the album '' Hatefiles''.

Radio promo

# Descent (edit) 4:04

Charts

Cover Versions

The

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

band

Meridian Dawn Meridian Dawn is an international heavy metal band. History The band was conceived by vocalist Antony Hämäläinen (Armageddon, Nightrage), drummer Johan Nunez (Kamelot, Nightrage, Firewind, Marty Friedman), guitarist Brandon Johnson, bassis ...

covered the song which appears on their first self release

The Mixtape EP ''The Mixtape EP'' is the debut EP of the melodic death metal band Meridian Dawn. It was released on 25 March 2014. The mixtape features a guest appearance from Joacim "Jake E" Lundberg (Cyhra, ex-Amaranthe) on the track "Dressed In Ice". "Thieve ...

References

1999 singles Fear Factory songs Songs written by Burton C. Bell 1998 songs Roadrunner Records singles Songs written by Dino Cazares {{metal-song-stub