[7][8] Additionally, while it was not announced until February 2012, much earlier second guitarist James Fiddler and bassist Marc Roots decided they would be leaving the band.

[6] The album was primarily self-produced, although they did receive some help from Brian Howes on the track "Bitter End" and from sound engineer Jason Vanpeoderooyen.

[11] However, at the same time, they both enjoyed the creative freedom of making the album they truly wanted, not having to submit to demands of a record label.

[12] Lyrically, the album is centered around the hopelessness and desperation Earl and Schraeder felt after starting fresh without record label support or past bandmates.

[13] Earl also identified his frustrations with the poor current state of rock music popularity in general as another contributor to the lyrics.

Lithium Magazine "highly recommended" the album, praising it for having "...a dark, edgy, hard rock vibe, and convey[ing] a clear story of difficult times and anguish, but also of hope and a determination to succeed.

"[2] Metalholics similarly gave it 8 out 10, praising the band's progress over time: "definitely much darker, edgier and heavier...the music has more grit and...lower tones, their sound has an infectious groove but you also hear a sense of maturity.

"[17] Loudwire gave the album 4 out of 5, praising it for being "a blend of teeth-grating rhythms and commercial melodies that are heavy enough to appeal to the hard rock fan while rarely too vicious or overindulgent".

[3] The New Review gave 3.5 out of 5, giving special praise to the vocals but saying the album still may have stayed a little too "inside the box".