The record features many guests, including members of Nação Zumbi, Fear Factory, Limp Bizkit, Cypress Hill, Deftones, and Dub War.

"Umbabarauma" is a cover of a 1976 song by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor, which originally featured on his album África Brasil.

In 2008, speaking to Kerrang!, Max Cavalera remembered:It was so hard to start over, having been in Sepultura for so long.

Coming into a whole new situation underneath the shadow of Roots was a huge challenge for me, and most people thought I was nuts.

Part of the magic was working with some of my all-time favourite Brazilian musicians and that really pushed me to write some great and some very different sounding music.