After the band achieved fame and a new audience with '"Closer to Free", they resisted the pressure to duplicate the single's success and wanted to avoid rehashing the same formula.

The result was a more rock-oriented sound than their previous album, though it continued along a similar direction.

"[1] However, Chuck Eddy of Entertainment Weekly gave it a mixed review, stating: "Having finally achieved pop stardom via their Party of Five theme song, this long-suffering Wisconsin bar band now tries to preserve their meager integrity by acting as un-Hollywood as possible.

With its timid, muffled harmonies over numbing guitar thrumming, Blend has enough forlorn corn to fill every silo in the heartland.

"[2] All songs written by Kurt Neumann and Sam Llanas.