Disillusioned with how they felt they did not have a place in the scene and time period they shared with bands such as Fugazi, Nation of Ulysses and Jawbox, Trenchmouth decided to change directions and recorded the album with producer and mixer Brad Wood in July 1994.

The aggressive and eclectic album combines influences and styles of noise rock, post-punk, no wave, dub, ska and jazz.

Upon release, the album was commercially unsuccessful, despite reaching number 39 on the Top 75 Alternative Radio Play chart, but it did receive favourable reviews from music critics.

Described by Andy Kellman of AllMusic as "[a] completely uncategorizable quartet,"[1] the band incorporated a variety of diverse genres into their music,[1] fusing Caribbean rhythms with the energy of hardcore punk, the "ass-grabbing power" of funk and numerous jazz characteristics.

[5] Influences on the album include punk rock, no wave, dub and ska,[6] and it incorporates walking basslines, extravagant guitar phasing and evolving time signatures.

Vocalist Damon Locks schizophrenically switches from oppressor to resistance by speak-singing in the disturbed cadence of a mad dictator or shell-shocked survivor.

[10] Wayne Montana's bass provides a "bizarre undercurrent" with his rapid, walking basslines, contributing towards the absence of any solid bottom in the music.

They felt that "[a]side from Fugazi's toe-dips into similar territory (and what little Gang of Four you could hear in the Red Hot Chili Peppers), the mainstream precedent for [the band's musical style] was a small, specialist group of mid-'90s record collectors.

So, just think of Trenchmouth's lone major-label album as an early, meaner, less tuneful version of what Bloc Party, Futureheads, and Franz Ferdinand would flourish with ten years later.

Devon Jackson of Entertainment Weekly rated the album A− and wrote that: "At once hypnotic and herky-jerky, the harsh vocals and harsher guitars complement a percussive collision reminiscent of the Clash.

He said both bands "play brittle art-funk that draws on the tradition of Captain Beefheart, Pere Ubu, the Pop Group, the Fall and other left-field types."

He felt that "DeZutter turns in his finest work here, from post-hardcore bombast to jazz-inspired inflection, and the band's earnest, precise approach is richer and more intriguing than before.

He felt the album captures the aggressive musical palette of the band which consistently "teeters on the edge of chaos while maintaining a ridged form."

He commented that: "Mutating time signatures, elaborate guitar phrasing, and fast-walking basslines may traditionally signify 1970s prog-rock obesity, but the Chicago quartet Trenchmouth takes these elements to a field far more left of center.