It is also the last album before vocalist Henry Rollins dissolved the band's "classic" lineup of guitarist Chris Haskett, bassist Melvin Gibbs, drummer Sim Cain and sound technician Theo Van Rock.

The legal dispute with Imago originated when Rollins Band were in the midst of promoting their previous record Weight.

"[5] Michael Ostin of DreamWorks told Billboard that he was drawn to the "creative vision" of Rollins, saying "I like the fact he's multidimensional — he does spoken word performances, he's an author, he has real depth to his career.

"[8] "Saying Goodbye Again" is about the irrationality of people dying prematurely due to drug abuse, with the last verse referring to a deceased friend of Rollins who was a drummer for Los Angeles band Stains.

[13] Haskett included "Neon" as among his ten favorite Rollins Band songs in a 2015 Louder Sound article, saying "'Neon' is up there with 'Burned Beyond Recognition' and 'Disconnect' as one of my favourites to play.

"[9] Like with their last few releases, Come In and Burn has been labelled as a mixture of heavy metal, funk and jazz, however it has a more pronounced jazz-influence than before.

[16] One of Steve Thompson's goals in producing the album was to have more of a focus on groove, since he wanted to emphasize the talents of their rhythm section, which included jazz bassist Melvin Gibbs.

"[5] The Come In and Burn tour lasted from April 1997 to October 1997, covering North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.

[18] Regarding the older songs, Rollins said in a June 1997 interview with The Courier-News, "they're like old friends that I haven't seen in ages", adding "I just want lots of room to move around with the setlist and have fun.

[19] Metal Insider included them and their Saturday Night Live performance of "Starve" on a list of the "Heaviest SNL Musical Guests".

[20] To further support the album, a conceptual music video was made for the single "The End of Something", directed by Gavin Bowden.

In a September 1998 CMJ interview, Rollins said that the band were on indefinite hiatus, citing the lukewarm response to the Come In and Burn tour and the album itself.

[23] In a later interview with the publication, Rollins also claimed he and the band were diverging in musical paths during the making of Come In and Burn, and that he disliked how long they had spent working on it together.

[24] During 1998 Rollins had formed a band with a lineup featuring members of Mother Superior, performing a few low key concerts in the United States during that year.

[27] Shortly after leaving Rollins Band, Haskett also collaborated with David Bowie on his 1999 album Hours, and he later relocated to Australia.

Reviewing for The Village Voice in December 1997, Robert Christgau said "this thrash-and-churn is [Rollins'] metalest metal ever", but regarded its lyrical content as "melodrama" concocted from "an adolescent despair [remembered] via groupies and fan mail".

[40] Bill Meredith of AllMusic commented that "not everyone agreed with [Rollins] decision to break up his band after the experimental 1997 Come in and Burn CD" and described the music as a mixture of "rock and funk, jazz/fusion, and metal".

The review remarks, "Helmet's Aftertaste and the Rollins Band's Come In and Burn are prime examples of the '90s brand of paramilitary headbanging.

With their drillsergeant demeanors and drill-press riffs, the Rollins Band and Helmet typify this Spartan approach to hard rock.

"[37] Canadian magazine RPM wrote in their review that Rollins is, "incredibly intelligent and highly articulate – something that comes through in songs like 'Inhale Exhale', 'Rejection', 'Shame' and 'On My Way to the Cage'",[43] while music site Brainwashed observed that, "bass player Melvin Gibbs was the new guy for Weight, but now he's an integral part of the band.

"[44] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly stated that Gibbs, Haskett and Cain had "perfected a truly massive two-parts-metal/one-part-fusion musical onslaught".

However, he was more critical of Rollins, remarking "Come In and Burn finds him again melodramatically declaiming lyrics that sound like transcriptions from a therapy session, over his band’s patented, jazz-tinged Uberrock.

"[15] Sinclair added, "at the close of 'Thursday Afternoon', a woman’s voice is heard saying, 'When I’m around animals or children, my problems don’t seem as intense.'

"[38] In May 2000, news publication New Times Broward-Palm Beach labelled the album "underrated", and claimed that the follow-up Get Some Go Again did not have the same "rebellious gusto".

[45] On Come In and Burn's 20th anniversary in 2017, Diffuser.fm wrote that "from the opening swirl of 'Shame,' the music is tighter, darker and more atmospheric than its predecessors.

"[46] PunkNews.org wrote in 2017 that "the musical progression on this release is certainly worth noting, the jazz-metal fusion on this album is amongst some of the most interesting hard rock churned out in the 90's".

[47] In 2022, Louder Sound placed Come In and Burn fourth in their ranking of the seven Rollins Band studio albums.