The music explores mourning as part of a thematic trilogy with the band's previous two releases[4] and was inspired by various influences, including DC hardcore, James Joyce, and Kids.

[5] BrooklynVegan gave several positive reviews to this album: Andrew Sacher named it one of the picks of the week when it was released, for having the band's "most melodic, hook-filled songs yet, and also some of their hardest-hitting".

[7] This was one of the picks of the week from The Fader, where critic David Renshaw called it "nuanced" for dealing with the emotional complexities of mourning that "ends with a moment of pitch-black positivity".

[17] Nina Corcoran of Pitchfork gave Death Is Nothing to Us a 7.6 out of 10, praising the band for showing restraint by "prioritizing nimble bass and guitar work".

[24] Staff from WBUR-FM chose the best local albums of the year and Karen Muller wrote that vocalist Pat Flynn's "roar embodies that pain and rallies against it, often within the same track".