The album's opening track, "To the Blade", focuses on the death of Manchester-born aid worker Alan Henning at the hands of ISIL's "Jihadi John". Higgs explained to "Drowned in Sound" that: "He was a taxi driver from Stockport, I could have met him. And the fact that someone who did it was also from Britain, but this was being played out on a global scale... It seemed like the craziest thing I’d ever heard." Other songs criticise political leaders in the United Kingdom. Higgs had been vocal of his distaste of politics in interviews following the release of "Arc." Several critics suggest that "The Wheel (Is Turning Now)" is a commentary on the "snake-oil appeal" of then-UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage; Higgs told "The Line of Best Fit" that the song also comments on "religious leaders and charismatic, corrupt leaders, or even men as gods". "No Reptiles" supposes that political leaders are "just fat, bald, old men, like soft-boiled eggs, that are just weak-willed, with no strong feelings (good or ill)"; its lyrics also make cryptic reference to Elliot Rodger, who carried out the 2014 Isla Vista killings.