However, contrary to many sources, the band considers this a compilation album, being a collection of songs recorded at different times.

The album's opening track “The Saddest Day” was written in guitarist Kurt Ballou’s dorm room apartment at Boston University, which vocalist Jacob Bannon described as "this weird bathroom/bedroom thing".

Jacob Bannon recalled the late-night vocal tracking sessions for the album as the first time he had truly felt satisfied with what he had captured on audio recording.

[6]The music on Petitioning the Empty Sky is considered to be "darker", "more aggressive" and more "straight-on" than some of the band's previous albums.

[7] Tracks nine through eleven - "For You", "Antithesis" and "Homesong" - were recorded live during a performance on radio station WJUL, run by college students at UMass Lowell.

A notable moment on the live track "Homesong" is when a band member breaks a guitar string and pauses the song, and bleeding singer Jacob Bannon claims to have "hit my head on a mic stand" and that it will "make us look punk."

Shortly after the release of Converge's 2004 album You Fail Me through Epitaph Records, Equal Vision reissued remasters of Petitioning the Empty Sky and When Forever Comes Crashing.

The updated version of Petitioning the Empty Sky featured new artwork from Isis frontman Aaron Turner, production work from Converge's Kurt Ballou in addition to Mike Poorman and Alan Douches, and an alternate version of "Love As Arson" as a bonus track.

The liner notes also contain the first half of an essay written by the "Aggressive Tendencies" columnist and editor of the Canadian online magazine Exclaim!, Chris Gramlich.

The three live tracks were released separately with the first pressing on a 7-inch vinyl with its own artwork based on box set packaging.

[14] Allmusic critic Blake Butler wrote: "Converge can break multiple bones throughout the body with sound alone, assaulting with beautiful metal riffs, throat-ripping screams, and aggressive smashing percussion.

“The Saddest Day” is what a hungry band sounds like — saying “fuck it” to the status quo of their scene and freely experimenting with every dynamic they could conjure up.