Often esoteric and conceptual, Meshuggah's lyrics explore themes such as existentialism. Allmusic describes "Destroy Erase Improve"'s lyrical focus as "the integration of machines with organisms as humanity's next logical evolutionary step". PopMatters' review of "Nothing" singles out the lyrics from "Rational Gaze": "Our light-induced image of truth—filtered blank of its substance / As our eyes won't adhere to intuitive lines / Everything examined. Separated, one thing at a time / The harder we stare the more complete the disintegration." Haake explains that "Catch Thirtythree"'s cover, title and lyrics deal with "the paradoxes/negations/contradictions of life and death (as we see it in our finest moments of unrestrained metaphoric interpretation)".