In an interview with Minneapolis alt-weekly City Pages, Casselle said that the album reflected his personal life, having gone through a divorce and raising a child since the previous Kill the Vultures record, 2009's Ecce Beast, as well as a commentary on the state of the world.

[6] Before the album's release, the group put out the single "The Jackyl", which featured Channy Leaneagh of the alternative rock band Poliça, Casselle's ex-wife.

[8] The website Hip Hop Golden Age named Carnelian one of its 100 essential jazz rap albums, calling it "the epitome of (Kill the Vultures') innovativeness, with its ominous use of saxophones, trumpets, flutes, violins, cellos, guitars, double basses, and percussion.

"[15] London-based website The Monitors named Carnelian one of its top records of the year, calling it "adventurously jazzy" and saying that it was "probably the most musically exciting hip-hop album of 2015".

[16] Italian music magazine Blow Up called Carnelian " a very hard, dark album with a dense and heavy sound" and said that Kill the Vultures was "a group that still has a lot to say".