when project 86 released their self-titled record, they were generally acknowledged to be a rapcore band. schwab has maintained it was never intentional, "i think we got lumped in with that music because we [had] toured with p.o.d. and linkin park." according to writer mark allan powell, the music featured "cryptic, down-tuned guitars" and "half-spoken, half-rapped" vocals. "drawing black lines" saw their style adopt elements of traditional metal, groove metal, and hard rock. the band used their song "pipedream" as a blueprint to build the album: "we knew that was one of the brightest spots on the album," said schwab, "i just wanted to take what we did in 'pipedream' and go further with it". experimentation with noise occurred in track "twenty-three", and would be revisited on their fourth album with "circuitry".