It's their first record with vocalist Floor Jansen, and with piper and whistler Troy Donockley as a full-time member of the band. Drummer Jukka Nevalainen was replaced by Kai Hahto in the studio as a result of ongoing health issues.

Mainman Tuomas Holopainen recently cited a Charles Darwin quote as his inspiration for the album: "Whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."