It has a more melodic sound compared to the band's two previous albums, and sold over 150,000 copies in the U.S. Blue-Sky Research garnered mixed reviews from music critics who admired the genre shift and lush production but found it wasted with angst-filled lyrics.

"[2] Vik Bansal of musicOMH praised the band for taking a melodic approach to the record along with their standard nu-metal formula, concluding that "Depending on your point of view, Blue-Sky Research will either come across as hopelessly unfocused or else one of the more ambitious and versatile rock albums to emerge for quite a while.

"[6] Johnny Loftus of AllMusic found the self-deprecating lyrics formulaic at times but found the contributions of Corgan and Matranga to the record a nice addition to the band's improved musicianship, saying that "even without the hired guns Blue-Sky Research is the most dynamic Taproot album yet (the self-penned "So Eager" proves that), and the album's heightened textures and less predictable turns successfully updates the band's sound.

"[3] Rolling Stone's Christian Hoard said that despite the band adding elements of modern rock and electronica to its brand of nu-metal, the album's songs get "dragged down by melodrama and the kind of adenoidal choruses that Incubus do much better.

"[5] Mikael Wood, writing for Blender, felt that the band was starting to become a relic of its given genre, saying that "On their third album, their lean Everydude grind—processed guitars stacked atop booming arena-rock drums—probes their feelings of insignificance in an all-too-workmanlike fashion.