The album was distributed worldwide by Infectious Music and BMG and preceded by the singles "The Men Who Rule the World", "No Gods No Masters" and "Wolves".

[6] "This is our seventh record, the significant numerology of which affected the DNA of its content: the seven virtues, the seven sorrows, and the seven deadly sins," singer Shirley Manson explained, describing No Gods No Masters as "a critique of the rise of capitalist short-sightedness, racism, sexism and misogyny across the world.

[10] Work was paused in the latter half of 2018, as Garbage marked the twentieth anniversary of their second album Version 2.0 (1998) with the two-month 20 Years Paranoid tour, before reconvening in Los Angeles to finish the project.

[20] Two outtakes from the album sessions, "Blue Betty" and "Adam and Eve", were released on April 22, 2023, on the Record Store Day vinyl exclusive Witness to Your Love EP.

[23] Prior to the writing of the song, Manson had interviewed George Clinton for the second season of her podcast The Jump, and was inspired by his P-Funk Mothership concept, which is based on the idea of creating an alternative reality free of racism and hate.

[27] Some of the lyrics were also inspired by the revolts of South American women who stood outside the government buildings "with their fists in the air, screaming [...] "you are the violator, we want to destroy you" kind of thing".

[23] "The Creeps" was developed from words Manson had written in 2009 describing when she was dropped as a solo artist by Interscope, not long after the dissolution of Garbage's deal with Geffen, but had tried for 12 years to use elsewhere.

[28] Another personal track, "Uncomfortably Me", had been aided by overindulging in mezcal cocktails;[29] it mentions the hardships of being Scottish living in a foreign country and the difficulty Manson had to endure after the death of her mother.

Centrepiece track "Waiting for God" is about police shootings of Black people and the disbelief towards organized religion in the face of injustice and lack of empathy.

The song was written long before the 2020 murder of George Floyd and was instead inspired by the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year old boy who was shot walking home at night from a grocery store after engaging in a physical altercation with another man.

[23] The most Roxy Music-inspired track on the album, "Anonymous XXX", is lyrically based on Manson's own fascination with "the hidden and the secrets and the self-deception" driving people to casual sexual relationships.

[33] "A Woman Destroyed" started as an attempt to flip the narrative on what was happening with the MeToo movement, where Manson felt women were being victimized by the media.

[36] No Gods No Masters was announced on March 30, 2021, with pre-orders going live at the same time the audio and music video for "The Men Who Rule the World", directed by Chilean artist and director Javi Mi Amor, were released.

[38] Over the summer, Garbage provided videos of live performances from the album recorded at Mates Rehearsal Studios in North Hollywood in May to Ouï FM,[39] Rolling Stone France,[40] iHeart Radio[41][42] and World Cafe.

To promote the album, Shirley Manson featured on the Australian Today show,[46] on The Project,[47] on FaceCulture,[48] on Entertainment Tonight Canada,[49] on Channel 4 News,[50] on Sunday Brunch,[51] and on Virgin Radio Italia.

[55] On November 21, Tears for Fears announced the 21-date May-June 2022 United States wing of The Tipping Point World Tour featuring Garbage as special guest.

"[86] In the review for AllMusic, Neil Z. Yeung called it "a highlight in their discography and one of their best works to date, a potent and outspoken dose of genre-blending artistry that confidently returns Garbage to their position as a band perpetually ahead of the curve.

"[81] In Rolling Stone, Kory Grow stated that "for all of the group's abundant signature moves on No Gods No Masters, the record never feels like a nostalgia bid.

"[83] The Independent's Roisin O'Connor assessed the level of creativity displayed on the album; "On No Gods No Masters, Garbage stretch beyond the gilded cage of their Nineties icon status to reach for something new – often, but not always, to effective ends.

[91] All tracks are written by Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, and Butch Vig, except where notedGarbage Additional musicians Technical Design