Writing for the NME, Mat Snow described it as "a masterpiece....and boldly reoccupies the territory rock has abandoned in its retreat into self obsession, and so throws down the challenge to the rest of the field.

Sounds Jonh Wilde wrote that "All the other rock is howling around, picking the sand out of its eyes, and The Triffids, on this hurricane form, make it look like a swarm of legless lizards.

They've evidently taken their time, but unleash their true masterpiece when their nearest rivals clog their own arteries with pomp and frigid pretentiousness.

"[13] Adam Sweeting of Melody Maker said that "At last somebody's released Born Sandy Devotional, which was finished nearly a year ago but has been bouncing around between dithering record companies ever since.

His lyrics display real writer's insight, and mould imperceptibly to his unhurried melodies....In The Seabirds, he explores a drowning love affair in a song so vivid it resembles a short story with pictures."

On 11 August 2007, SBS in Australia aired a one-hour documentary on the Triffids and Born Sandy Devotional as the 1980s' representative of their Great Australian Albums series.