10 Incredible Songs From Musicians Who Knew They Were Dying

"I will be consumed, returned into the earth. Only passing through, nothing left to hold on to."

It's hard to argue against Architects being one of the biggest modern metal bands. They outgrew their early mathcore origins and would eventually pull the controversial metalcore genre into arenas, establishing themselves as pillars of the UK heavy music scene.

The principle songwriter behind the outfit for a number of years was guitarist Tom Searle, who took inspirations from the likes of Converge, Meshuggah and The Dillinger Escape Plan as well as modern society and various writers including writer and spiritualist Alan Watts. Some of Watts' works make it into Memento Mori - the Latin term for "be mindful of death" - a song Searle wrote as a commentary on his skin cancer diagnosis.

Fans knew of Searle's initial diagnosis in 2013 and his eventual all-clear. However, what fans didn't know is that the illness soon came back. Searle continued to perform and write as normal, not allowing his diagnosis to take over his life.

The true subject matter of mortality in songs like this, C.A.N.C.E.R., Gravedigger and others were only truly felt upon Searle's passing in August 2016, three months after the release of All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us. Mortality was something his cancer diagnosis made him all too aware of, but he refused to cower from it, instead turning it into his muse.