on 26 january 2008, drummer ryan richards made an announcement on the band's forum, stating that ffaf were to spend the first few months of the year recording, with a view to releasing a four or five track ep in march or april 2008. after writing more material than originally planned, the band decided to release a full-length album instead, expected out in september. ryan also announced that the new album would contain harsh/screaming vocals, riffs and would be closer to "casually dressed and deep in conversation" than any of their other albums, although it would still be significantly different and more technical, saying that they want to move forward, and never back to any old style.