strata is a rock band formed in campbell, california in 2000. eric victorino and ryan hernandez formed the band after leaving their previous bands (enertia & faith in grey), later being joined by hrag chanchanian and patrick spain to complete the original lineup. under the name downside, they released three promotional eps, "for testing purposes v1.0", "falling asleep", and "breather", containing songs which would later appear on their 2001 album titled "sleep". the drummer, patrick spain, was later replaced by adrian robinson. with their new drummer, they recorded another promo ep and an album titled "when it's all burning". in 2003, they renamed themselves to strata, and released another ep titled "now the industry is outnumbered. their factories are burning down." in 2004, they released their self-titled album. this album was a hit, getting songs featured in marvel movies and madden 2005. in 2007, they released their current final album, "strata presents: the end of the world". this album was a departure from their usual alternative, nu-metal-ish sound, leaning towards a progressive emo style, much like one of their biggest influences, dredg.

in 2008, singer eric victorino left the band "to explore [his] creativity." strata disbanded, and the remaining members formed beta state. beta state advertised online looking for a new singer, and they eventually found matt mcdonald. they caught attention of linkin park's mike shinoda, later being featured on "lp underground xiii". eric, however, formed an electro-pop band, the limousines, with giovanni giusti. they gained major traction from their song, "internet killed the video star", being featured on mtv and getting millions of views online.

in 2014, strata reformed, although without adrian robinson. in the mid 2010s, they released various previously unreleased material online, as well as an ep containing reworked versions of demos titled "the sawmill sessions". from 2019-2021, they released a few singles and toured. currently, they're working on new material.