[4] AllMusic's Timothy Monger described the album as a "nihilistic, almost comically bleak trek into the dark heart of folk music" as well as "a difficult but defining statement made at the height of their powers".

[5] Jude Rogers of The Guardian felt that it "teems with similar moments of iridescent bliss" and its tracks "also unfurl into each other without a break, alternately lulling the listener then casting them into storms of shuddering sounds".

[7] Jim Wirth of Mojo opined that the album "offers hurricane-force drama at times" and "also tells a less grisly tale about growing up and realising that your swashbuckling days might be over.

[8] Rob Young of Uncut found False Lankum to be "some measure their most ambitious in terms of instrumentation, arrangements and the sheer creation of atmosphere" and stated that the band "have found a convincing way to keep the damn hulk going, stoking the engines of folk tradition and setting course to who knows when".

[10] Clash's Craig Howieson wrote that the band "continue to mine some of the finest – and criminally overlooked – songs of folk music's past and tailor them to the zeitgeist", concluding that the album "will one day too become a historical artefact", but "one which will brighten the future of those who devote time to its unique majesty".