It is a concept album addressing environmental issues and the rebirth of a dead planet through a space travel storyline, with the underlying theme of a transition from war to peace.

The album was largely written by Joe and Mario Duplantier, but Christian Andreu contributed certain parts such as the outro of "Where Dragons Dwell"[3] and the central melody on "World to Come".

[4] Jean-Michel Labadie was involved in the production, especially on the coherence of his bass in the compositions, and with his work the band sought "to bring a much warmer note into their sound".

AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia noted the influences of bands such as Pantera, Meshuggah, and Neurosis on the album, particularly in the guitar work and emphasis on atmosphere.

[21] Heaping praise on the album, Rivadavia wrote that "the fluidity with which utmost heaviness and delicate melodies were made to coexist within the scope of single songs like 'Where Dragons Dwell', 'Flying Whales', and 'World to Come', was truly astonishing—as was the surprisingly seamless flow accomplished by the sequencing of these wildly disparate tracks, and the thematically conjoined esoteric subjects undertaken throughout.

The final outcome was still not easy to digest, and admittedly just a tad bit overlong (Gojira's next challenge was definitely to be a little more concise), but compared to most of the impossibly dense (and often exhausting) prog metal available, From Mars to Sirius, struck a close to perfect balance between degree of difficulty and ultimate reward.

"[23] Chad Bowar of About.com commented that the album combine "extreme and heavy, but also has a lot of progressive elements", while "some songs are pure death metal, others much more mellow and atmospheric".

[34] AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia describes the album as marking a turning point for the band, "gaining them access into the exclusive top echelon of the world's progressive metal elite."

[36] Graham Hartmann said it utilized "one of the best riffs and breakdowns of the century", adding that the song "becomes more iconic as the years pass, stretching the limits of what a metal band can achieve without clean vocals or flashy guitar solos".