[10] Reviewing the album for Pitchfork, Aaron Leitko called the track "eastre" "glacial and serene" and commented on the "violent squelches" suggesting "machine-on-machine violence" in "c7b2".

[13] In an AllMusic review of the compilation, John Buchanan brought up the track "spTh" and called it "particularly atmospheric and sinister" and commented on its "grinding, metallic chords".

Buchanan also discussed the final track, "oneum", which contains "fluttering shards of dissonant pipe organ chords" which are "drenched in reverb".

[15] Reviewing the album for Pitchfork, Aaron Leitko gave individual ratings of each of the volumes, but concluded by saying "elseq feels like an advancement of the duo’s recent live sets, offering a similar ratio of rhythm to noise and order to chaos, but a richer palette of sounds.

[11] Resident Advisor editor Andrew Ryce called the music within the album "bewildering and occasionally fun" and concluded that "elseq 1–5 is a logical next step into the unknown for two pioneers".

[12] In a list of "10 Great 2016 Ambient/Electronic Albums", Disquiet editor Marc Weidenbaum ranked elseq 1–5 at number one, calling the collection "five LPs' worth of broken beats, industrialized entropy, and conspiratorial static".

Sherbune also made the comparison that the music was "between cellophane crinkle and ice-crystal fractals, and flecked with stray bits of hip-hop and Stockhausen".