The Last Hero was written during the winter of 2015 while both singer Myles Kennedy and guitarist Mark Tremonti were on tour with their respective projects, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators and Tremonti, with the recording process being finished during the spring of 2016. Regarding the sound of the album, Tremonti stated it to be similar to Fortress and Blackbird but they were planning on darker sound. The album name comes from the subject of being a hero in society. It also marks a departure from the band's previous visual and lyrical style, with the grungy aesthetic of previous albums replaced with a more streamlined logo and political lyricism. The song "Writing on the Wall", for example, is about Kennedy's frustration with people who deny the legitimacy of global warming.