[5][6] The tracks "Rest Is War" and "What Does It Mean" were compared to the works of Foetus, while Neves' vocals on "Love" drew comparisons to Swans vocalist Michael Gira.

"[9] NME wrote that Treponem Pal has added an element of sick science to breed in the background of their songs, an ultimately sinister presence that slips unseen into the final mix.

"[6] Reviewing for Alternative Press Jason Pettigrew called the album as "soundtrack for a brutal attack" and "brooding and animalistic," further concluding it to be "an equivalent of a cluster bomb.

The curator and reviewer Chuck Eddy likened the record to "smart-bomb technology, scud-boom sludge and pagan-ritual sorties conducted as if frontman Marco Neves is singing through a gas mask.

"[13] In 2011, Decibel critic Jeff Treppel wrote that the band "really harnessed an apocalyptic intensity" with Aggravation, "evoking Birmingham in 1980, but foreshadowing the sound of Chicago in 2010.