[3] The album employs a sample-based approach to rock music: the tracks are composed from samples from metal guitar riffs and classical compositions.

The Young Gods met with a critical acclaim, with a particular interest from the British music press: it was named as the "Album of the Year" by Melody Maker.

The Young Gods formed in Geneva in 1985, after Fribourg-native guitarist Franz Treichler decided to assemble a band for his sound collage compositions.

The band started rehearsing and performing with the inclusion of sampler player Cesare Pizzi and drummer Frank Bagnoud.

[10] On the band's arrangements, David Stubbs of The Quietus wrote: "They used artifice and synthesis, mechanically retrieving the sounds of the dead rock (and classical) past, but forging them in such a way as to create something bold, grandiose and absolutely new under the sun.

[12] The track "Nous de la lune" features a martial beat, tolling bells, and "a vomiting, bass growl" by Treichler.

[11] "Jusqu'au About" was characterized by "exhaust fume sputters of revving guitar", while the track "A ciel ouvert" features "Treichler's melodramatic, pterodactyl-like screams".

", featured on the CD version, consists of a "motorik percussion, gunshots, an abbreviated hair metal riff";[10][11] the track was likened to "techno played by a speed-metal band".

[3] "Comme si était la dernière fois", another CD bonus track, features a slowed down guitar riff from The Ruts.

[4] AllMusic critic Ned Raggett wrote: "Even if the uniqueness of the Young Gods' sample-based compositional and playing method of heavy rock wasn't a question, the band's debut would still have caught many a discerning ear."

"[12] Trouser Press wrote: "'Bombastic' would be a gross understatement, but when ability matches ambition, The Young Gods has a uniquely menacing majesty.