With The Visitors, ABBA took several steps away from the "lighter" pop music they had recorded previously and the album is often regarded as a more complex and mature effort.

The opening track, "The Visitors", with its ominous synthesizer sounds and the distinctive lead vocal by Frida, announced a change in musical style.

To begin with, their sound engineer Michael Tretow had to become accustomed to using the new 32-track digital recorder that had been purchased for Polar Music Studios.

[12] On its release, The Visitors reached the top of the charts in a number of territories but was not as successful as the band's previous albums.

[19][20][21] This collection of demos, put together by Benny Andersson, showcased the evolution of "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room", offered insights into ABBA's recording process, and was, at the time, the first release of unheard archive material since 1994's Thank You for the Music box set.

[19] Pitchfork reviewed this deluxe reissue on 18 May 2012, and gave it an 8.6 rating, saying "even as the band's commercial star faded and its professional relationships quietly unravelled, they were perfectionists.

[22] An April 2012 review by The Arts Desk said that "The Visitors is not their best, but it is their most interesting [album], pointing to where Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson would go next".

It was the first time the members were depicted as separate individuals rather than a close-knit group, conveying ABBA's general sense of fatigue.

[24][25] Julius Kronberg's Atelje (atelier), where the album cover's photo-shoot took place, is located in Skansen Park, Stockholm.