Described by Ian McFarlane's Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop as "brimming with passionate, dramatic and alluring musical vistas", it took the band into the Top 20 album charts for the first time, peaking at No.19 in September 1991.

[3] Interviewed in 1996, five years after Doughboy Hollow's 1991 release, singer and co-writer Ron Peno said the album remained the band's creative watermark.

Caz Tran reflected that "Doughboy Hollow should have made Died Pretty a household name", and that "its songs show the Sydney band at the peak of their creative powers."

She concluded: "Thirty years on though, it is clear Doughboy Hollow occupies a special place in Australian music, popping up with stubborn consistency on essential albums lists to this day.

"[5] Named the 96th best Australian album by Rolling Stone Australia in 2021, they said, "More closely aligned with the overcast melodies of bands like R.E.M.