Wolfmother frontman Andrew Stockdale began working on the follow-up to 2014's New Crown in January 2015 at a studio in New South Wales, writing songs on guitar, bass and drums as he had done previously with the band's 2005 self-titled album.

[1] Speaking about the writing process, Stockdale explained that "Back in the early days, I'd play guitar, bass, and drums and then present the ideas to the band and we'd work on the arrangement together", which he claimed is "a good way to do things because it can make the style more cohesive.

[11] Following the album's release, Wolfmother embarked on the Gypsy Caravan Tour, which started with a North American leg on 24 February 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota running until 1 April in Vancouver, British Columbia.

[15] Loudwire's Chad Childers compared "Victorious" to Black Sabbath,[2] while National Public Radio's Jason Heller added Led Zeppelin, MC5, Deep Purple and The White Stripes to the list of similar bands.

[2] "Pretty Peggy" is described as a "love song" by Mikey Cahill of News.com.au and Beaudoin of PopMatters,[15][16] while Heller highlighted its "slickly harmonised, larger-than-life, woah-woah-woah chorus".

[38] Jedd Beaudoin of PopMatters described the album as a "welcome and appropriate return from one of the best bands to emerge in the last decade", praising in equal measures Stockdale's songwriting and O'Brien's production.

[39] Writing for National Public Radio, Jason Heller claimed that all ten songs on Victorious "screech for the stars", praising tracks such as "Baroness", "City Lights" and "Gypsy Caravan" in particular.

[10] Loudwire's Chad Childers claimed that the album features "the vitality, energy and muscle that put the band on the musical map back in the mid-2000s", highlighting "Victorious", "Pretty Peggy" and "City Lights" as "standout" tracks.

[42] On the other hand, Consequence of Sound writer Jeremy Zerbe criticised the album as one of the worst released by the band, claiming that it feels "lethargic" and "only finds momentum rarely".

[14] Classic Rock magazine panned the album as "one man [Stockdale] putting a lot of effort into going absolutely nowhere",[35] while AllMusic's Thom Jurek described it as "little more than a thrown-together mess".

[34] DIY reviewer Shefali Srivastava praised "Victorious", "City Lights" and "Gypsy Caravan", but concluded that the album is "too nice, too safe, and ultimately, too predictable".