"Still Echoes",
VII's first single, draws inspiration from the history of
Pankrác Prison, where Blythe was held on manslaughter charges. Reciting the first lyric from "Still Echoes", Blythe asserts that there was real inspiration for the lyrics even though the words "might read like graphic metal imagery". Blythe said that he sought out information about the prison's history from guards and fellow inmates while he was incarcerated.
Blythe calls the album "the most cohesive record" the band had done in a long time, with Blythe writing "90 percent" of the lyrics as well as main songwriters Mark Morton and Willie Adler working in collaboration on all of the tracks instead of writing complete songs individually. Blythe also stated that due to these reasons, "The record is much, much stronger for it" and is less "schizophrenic" than previous albums.
Blythe wrote the lyrics to the song
"512", the album's second single, in Pankrác Prison cell number 512, while he was contemplating how the experience was changing him. According to Blythe, most of his time was spent in a basement dungeon. He said the guards put him there so they could monitor him for depression. "They stick you in the worst, dimmest, darkest place in the prison," he says. "I couldn't even see the sun to tell what part of the day it was. It was just steadily lessening levels of gloom."
