However, Cor-Crane Secret sounds brittle when compared to the work of more accomplished '90s guitar bands like Built to Spill, Pavement, and Sonic Youth."

He notes the "band's tendency to meander through long patches of dissonant but artful guitar structures [that] vigorously challenges the average rock attention span" and that they "dare themselves into overpowering their own rich songwriting" on the album.

[1] According to David Sprague of Trouser Press, the band's "lengthy, enigmatic songs have far more in common with Gentle Giant and ELP (on a budget, of course) than anything contemporary, and its disavowal of hooks is all but complete" on their debut album which "quickly laid down the clinical gauntlet", criticizing Bowie's "unsteady" vocals.

[7] UK magazine Select gave the album a similarly mixed review, with critic Anrew Perry writing that it was "[s]tructurally one of the weirdest, most contorted rock LPs of the year" and a "unique aural experience" despite the lack of "singalong choruses".

It also lists a large number of influences spread across its tracks, despite noting that "all of these seemingly incongruent elements form something remarkably coherent", ending the piece by calling it "years ahead of most rock music coming out today.