The Atlanta-based quintet Sevendust became one of the rising acts in late-'90s heavy metal with an aggressive blend of bottom-heavy riffs and soulful, accessible melodies. The band, comprised of frontman Lajon Witherspoon, John Connolly (guitar), Clint Lowery (guitar), Vince Hornsby (bass), and Morgan Rose (drums), first appeared in 1995 as Crawlspace, releasing the single "My Ruin" on the Mortal Kombat: More Kombat recording. Shortly thereafter, the group changed its name to Sevendust and released a self-titled debut in 1997. Two years later, the bandmates issued the gold-selling Home and played over 800 shows alongside such groups as Creed, along with a stop at Woodstock '99. Their angst-ridden third album, the aptly titled Animosity, appeared in fall 2001, and Seasons followed in 2003.

In late December 2004, word surfaced that Lowery had left the band, and those rumors proved true the following February when Sevendust announced ex-Snot guitarist Sonny Mayo as Lowery's replacement. (Lowery, a co-founder of Sevendust, eventually surfaced in the hard rock supergroup Dark New Day.) Next, Sevendust's fifth album and their first self-produced effort, appeared in October 2005. The record failed to sell as much as its predecessors, but Sevendust nevertheless signed to Asylum Records and issued Alpha in March 2007. Alpha fared better than Next, climbing to number 14 on the Billboard charts and paving the way for the band's seventh effort. Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow arrived in April 2008, featuring an appearance by former American Idol star Chris Daughtry.