James Hickie of "Kerrang!" said "Sudden Life" has "arena-tantalizing melodies", and is about the fading will to live. McIlrath noted that the band experimented with the sonics on "Sudden Life", and how he felt it sounded similar to the music of U2 and Foo Fighters. "A Beautiful Indifference" chastises armchair activists during Occupy movements, while "Methadone" tells of a crumbling relationship. The next song, "Zero Visibility", fuses classic rock riffs with numerous tempo changes. McIlrath said "Awake Too Long" is about taking in the negativity in the world, and the desire to "close your eyes and be ignorant to all of it". The penultimate song is an acoustic ballad called "People Live Here", which references gun control and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The final song, "Bridges", "skirts between tempos and does so cleverly, maintaining energy throughout," according to Qayyum.