All the tracks on this album were produced by Rathbun & the other members of the band, except for "Phthisis", which was produced by Scott Humphrey, and recorded at the Chop Shop, Hollywood in May 2004; Chris Baseford engineered the recording sessions, while Garry Raposo and Vincent Piette assisted in engineering.

Other elements include heavy metal ("The Donkey-Headed Adversary of Humanity Opens the Discussion" and "Phthisis"), progressive rock ("FC: The Freedom Club"), post-metal ("Babydoctor"), western music ("Cockroach"), folk music ("The 17-Year Cicada"), as well as many more.

Of Natural History has a continuity in the sense that all the songs sequence into each other, thus holding the narrative element(s) of the album better together.

The continuity and the coherent feel make Of Natural History very close to a concept album; its underlying mood is concerned with the apocalyptic implications caused by human presence on earth.

According to the band's official website, Of Natural History is in part "a debate between two contradictory pillars of 20th C. Anti-Humanism: The Futurists versus the Unabomber.