The departure in style from Hello Master was frequently noted for better or for worse, and comparisons of the group to influential hard rock and heavy metal acts such as Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath were once again made.

[2] Even though the group have admitted that they were ultimately displeased with the sound of the record, which they described as "so tight and really produced",[3] they remain proud of their Guitar Hero achievement.

[4][5][6] The band spent roughly two and a half years performing concerts on behalf of Hello Master,[5][7] supporting such acts as Dinosaur Jr., the Sword, Mastodon and Megadeth.

[10] Lead singer and guitarist Mikey Heppner, who listened to progressive rock in his youth, wrote things that he initially withheld from the band, because he felt that his bandmates would not understand him - he described his work as being "way too proggy".

As a result, the label continually rejected the material represented by the demo recordings the group were sending in, believing that none of the songs could perform as commercially successful singles.

'"[14] The laborious work on Priestess' sophomore album and the record label issues throughout 2008 ultimately forced bassist Mike Dyball to quit his side project, atmospheric black metal band Vision Lunar.

[17] In December 2007, the band made their first attempt at recording the album with producer Matt Bayles, who after only a few days was dismissed as he "wasn't really the right fit".

In 2008, after the band spent the winter looking for another producer, their A&R representative at RCA Records tried to schedule sessions with Tool guitarist Adam Jones but was unsuccessful;[18] as a result, the process did not begin in earnest for six more months.

They had been assured that the house had not previously been served with noise violations of any kind,[5][19] but after they had finished recording drums[5] and many of the guitar parts,[19] they learned that they had the volume set too high when working on the bass guitar tracks; law enforcement came to the door and forced them to take their work elsewhere because they were shaking neighboring houses with the noise they were generating.

He noted that Prior to the Fire more accurately reflected the band's live sound, whereas Hello Master was, as he put it, a "studio production".

After Heppner introduced his bandmates to progressive rock, the band integrated minor influences from the genre in their songwriting and compositions,[14] including touches of keyboards, while trying not to deviate too much from the sound of Hello Master.

[21] Lyrically, the album focused on more unusual themes for rock music than the band had written for Hello Master as they instead wrote about personal interests.

[5] His lyrics to "It Baffles the Mind" recount a tournament in the manga/anime series Dragon Ball, while the seminal Lone Wolf and Cub inspired him to write "Sideways Attack".

[5] The influential serial drama Twin Peaks served as the basis for a song that he wrote that did not make it into the final track listing;[5] outtakes from the album were set for separate release on 7" singles.

The Cincinnati CityBeat reported that the album had been titled Life Giver,[1] but Heppner was inspired to use the phrase Prior to the Fire while at a hotel on tour.

Flipping through the channels on the hotel television in search of shows like CSI,[7] he was just in time to witness a segment on A&E where a detective commented on a woman's death in a house fire.

[5] He said something to the effect of, "The amount of carbon monoxide in the victim's lungs proves that she had died prior to the fire," and Heppner liked the way the last words sounded.

The band do not ascribe any particular meaning to it; Heppner commented that the artwork, combined with the title, could be "a pre-creation thing" or even "a Billy Joel reference."

[5] Much as the label had argued with the band over the quality of the songs before production, RCA continued to debate the issue with Priestess after the album sessions were finished in the fall of 2008.

[3][7][10] The group had hoped to release the album in March 2009, but RCA's reluctance caused Priestess to miss this anticipated timeframe completely.

[28] Heppner noted that labels usually shelve albums permanently if they are deemed unfit for commercial sale rather than give them to the artists who recorded them, and that the band were "really, really lucky" in comparison.

[5] Prior to the Fire was released on October 20, 2009, in Canada,[8] and on February 2, 2010 (the soonest possible date Tee Pee Records could give the band)[19] in the United States.

[31] Rock Sound made a favorable comparison to Thin Lizzy for the track "Lunar", and to Baroness for "The Gem", giving the album a score of 9 out of 10.

[39] Speaking from his perspective as an aged listener and someone who is not a fan of modern rock music, Jay Bennett of the Phoenix New Times gave the album a grade of B.

[40] After the album's release in Canada, the band embarked on a tour in that country with Early Man and Trigger Effect in November 2009.

[47] Released on February 4, 2010, via Pitchfork Media,[48] the video made extensive use of fur and taxidermy, which were noted by ChartAttack as qualities PETA would not approve of: "I can hear Ingrid Newkirk screaming right now.