It is also the first album to feature Zachary Barocas on drums, as he replaced original drummer Adam Wade two years prior.

Greg Kot called the album "the quartet's punchiest record yet, surpassing in blowtorch clarity the group's earlier releases on Fugazi's Dischord label."

He praised Ted Niceley's production, writing that it "puts a vicious gleam on Jawbox's rhythm section, particularly Kim Coletta's power-tool bass."

"[3] Andy Kellman called the album "their peak, a thrilling collision of vibrant guitar-generated noise and off-center melodic hooks over a rhythm section that swings as easily as it pummels."

"[12] Matt LeMay wrote that the album "has aged exceedingly well [...] precisely because it did not pander to the aesthetic fads of its time-- mainstream or underground.