As a compilation album, the composition of its songs spans across a period of six years, charting the evolution of the band's alternative rock sound. The opening tracks on the album, which are from the band's first recording session, exhibit the band's early style, noted for its abrasive guitar work (heavily influenced by noise rock, grindcore, and no wave music) and literate, aggressive lyrics, many of which mix derogatory language with cryptic and religious themes. In particular, "Retard Girl" is a narrative of a girl being abused and made fun of on a playground. "Turpentine", as well as "Retard Girl", feature historical and religious references as well: "Turpentine" features lyrics alluding to Christianity (""I know all you devils by your Christian names / And I know all you bitches by your Christian names"", ""Bless my body and bless my soul / Wrap it in turpentine""), while a line from "Retard Girl", which reads: ""As shines the moon among the lesser fires"", is directly referenced from "Odes", a book of Latin poems by Roman poet Horace.