"Coming off their previous album “The Ritual”, Testament began to feel the winds of change as it were. The first strike was the departure of lead guitarist Alex Skolnick, who decided that he wanted to experience other sides of music than just the thrash metal scene he had been a part of for almost a decade. Not long after, drummer Louie Clemente also left the band. This left holes in the framework that had to be filled. The first addition was guitarist James Murphy who had played with Death, Cancer and Obituary (and yes, those are band names not just a really bad run with his health), and drummer John Tempesta, who had played on the previous three albums for Exodus and with other solid work on his resume.

These two additions, along with what was happening around them in the music world, set up and interesting writing session when they converged to begin preparing for the new album. And while those thrash roots would remain on the music on this album, there is a more diverse sound once again bleeding through into their music. But while it had been an advancing maturity in the music that had been heard on the last two albums in particular, here there influences of the growing onset of alternative metal, but even more so of a death metal and groove metal combination".