40 Below Summer, is a five-piece alternative metal/hard rock band formed in 1998, when drummer and Peruvian native Carlos Aguilar met with singer Max Illidge and began playing together. Joe D'Amico joined the duet later, followed by Jordan Plingos and Puerto Rican-born Hector Graziani. Their first release was a self-released album called Side Show Freaks. Eventually, a deal was signed with London/Sire Records who released their first major label in October of 2001, Invitation to the Dance, produced by GGGarth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, Kittie).

Two months after the release of Invitation to the Dance, London/Sire Records went out of business due to major label corporate mergers. Despite this event, 40 Below Summer continued to play at venues where they could.

After performing on the Jägermeister Music Tour with Drowning Pool, Coal Chamber, and Ill Nino, their fan base began to expand rapidly and they started to write material for The Mourning After.

While 40 Below Summer started writing almost immediately after the release of Invitation To The Dance, they threw out some fifteen songs before coming up with twenty-one that they reduced down to the final ten (plus a bonus track, "The Day I Died") for The Mourning After. Razor & Tie saw the band in February of 2003, when they played in New York on tour with now label mates E.Town Concrete, and a deal was signed in June just as the band entered the studio to record.