[12] Rehearsals began in northern summer of 2012 and in September the band entered Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland to begin tracking for the new album with producer Hiili Hiilesmaa.
This was the same session that produced the music video for their cover of the Ké song "Strange World", released on the compilation XX – Two Decades of Love Metal.
The track "Into the Night" was chosen for the Finnish market, "All Lips Go Blue" for the UK and US, and "Tears on Tape" for the rest of Europe.
The album's artwork, created by Daniel P. Carter, consists of a snake, circling the heartagram which is encased in a heptagram, or more specifically the Seal of Babalon.
There are markings on the snake's back, a code in Malachim which when decoded says, "Tears on tape, I will follow into your heart sketching rain from afar.
Tears on tape, she surrenders needle in arm while we dance into the storm," the chorus lyrics from the album's title track.