Natural disasters in China divine retribution: "tianzai" (天災), literally 'heavenly disaster'. In ancient beliefs, natural disasters were seen as Heaven’s response to immoral human behaviour, whereby the conduct of different individuals carried different weights. While the behaviour of common people ranked last, the actions of bureaucrats had a greater effect. Given that in Imperial China the emperor's behaviour was believed to be the most important, popular belief was that the emperor should attempt to prevent disasters by ensuring his conduct was in following with moral codes – and if a disaster should occur, he was responsible for addressing the consequences. According to the Overseas
Fate to Fatal label, and the Breeders released 2008's "Mountain Battles" with 4AD as a "one-off". For "Fate to Fatal", they considered whether it was worthwhile to negotiate again with 4AD to release it as well. They conferred with friends in the music industry, including Albini, Bob Weston, and former 4AD owner Ivo Watts-Russell, and decided to release the EP themselves independently, on Period Music. On April 21, 2009, they released 1000 copies on vinyl for Record Store Day; they also made the EP available digitally. The Breeders made a music video for the song "Fate to Fatal", co-directed by Lopez and James