This is the band's fourth studio record not to share its name with a song, following "Piece of Mind", "The X Factor" and "Virtual XI". Drummer Nicko McBrain and guitarist Janick Gers claim that the band originally intended to name the album after one of its tracks, with both "The Pilgrim" and "The Legacy" being considered. According to Gers, "sometimes a title will just leap out at you as the obvious choice, but it didn't this time for some reason", so the band decided on "A Matter of Life and Death", which, according to McBrain, was amongst "two or three ideas which we were kicking around". Neither Gers or McBrain can remember who came up with the title, which they state was thought up by either Harris, Rod Smallwood (the band's manager) or "Drew" (an engineer at Sarm West Studios).