As with their self-titled debut album, the tracks on Deceit were assembled from largely improvised recordings that the band accumulated since their inception in 1976, with varying degrees of audio quality.

[6] The cover art for Deceit, designed by bandmember Gareth Williams and Nicholas Goodall in collaboration with Xerox artist Laurie-Rae Chamberlain, reflects the album's lyrical concerns, and includes a photomontage of images such as mushroom clouds, thematic maps depicting nuclear arsenals and photographs of Ronald Reagan, Leonid Brezhnev and Nikita Khrushchev.

In January 2016, Light in the Attic imprint Modern Classics Recordings pressed remastered reissues of Deceit, This Heat, and Health and Efficiency on vinyl.

Andy Kellman of AllMusic wrote of the album: "Out of all the boundary breaking that occurred during the fertile era of post-punk, This Heat's Deceit is one of the most expansive, imaginative and remarkably wild records to have been produced during the time—and very possibly the last three decades.

"[1] Miles Bowe of Tiny Mix Tapes called it a "radiation-soaked masterpiece",[16] while Select magazine's Dave Morrison wrote that it "stands as a phenomenal achievement, opening up avenues yet to be explored.

[2] In 2011, Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor, who has frequently collaborated with Hayward, selected Deceit as part of NME's The 100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard issue.