距離上一張專輯《末日警鐘 毀滅·新生》三年後，本專輯再度延續環保議題，並帶出反戰意識，專輯的靈感來自被稱為美國「原子彈之父」的物理學家羅伯特·奧本海默，在史上第一顆原子彈試爆時想起了印度著名史詩薄伽梵歌，引用所說出的一段名句：「If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One」[1]，因此這張專輯背後的意識比《末日警鐘 毀滅·新生》更濃厚，是一張更高層次的概念專輯。專輯再度邀請多座葛萊美獎加冕的搖滾宗師瑞克·盧賓（Rick Rubin）擔任製作人，延續上一張的曲風。
^"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.（參見維基文庫（英文））"
^"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it — that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"（參見維基文庫（英文））
^"I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: 'This way of settling differences is not just.' This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love."（越南之後：打破沉默的時刻（英语：Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence） - 1967.04.04）
