Funeral for Yesterday received generally favourable reviews from critics, who highlighted the band's newfound chemistry and growth, though its focus on clean singing drew mixed reactions.

[7][8] Morgan and Mercedes subsequently put Kittie on hiatus whilst they contemplated changing careers, but they ultimately decided to keep pursuing music.

[15] Guitarist Tara McLeod was recruited in August 2005 by Kittie's manager, David Lander, after seeing her perform with her band, Sherry, in Strathroy-Caradoc, Ontario.

[16][18] Although all of the lyrics and around half of the music for Funeral for Yesterday was written before they joined the band, Morgan and Mercedes gave McLeod and Doan the freedom to write whatever they wanted for the album afterwards.

[24][25][26] Kittie embarked on a three-month tour of North America in support of the EP,[27][28] which allowed the band to play their new songs to audiences and "work out [their] kinks".

"[30] Mercedes said that Kittie "didn't have a lot of say" in the way the album was recorded,[34] which she would later attribute to a "power struggle" between the band and Ponti that they ultimately lost "because he had the stronger personality".

[12][37][N 2] Kittie said that the album was recorded with a "less is more" mentality; Morgan explained that this was "not 'less is more' in terms of the end product and the richness of the music, [but] 'less is more' like you do less guitar tracks to make it sound fuller".

[52][53][54] Morgan stated that Kittie wanted to "make an album where you could bang your head and sing along at the same time",[1] whilst Doan believed that the band had "worked more in a way that ... was to get songs on the radio.

"[55] Morgan and McLeod cited classic rock acts, including Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, as influences on the album's song structures and guitar solos.

"[51] Funeral for Yesterday's opening title track, which deals with themes of morality and rebirth,[59] was described by IGN as "a tale of renewal for Morgan ... and for [Kittie] as a whole".

"[60] In December 2006, Kittie were forced to change their label's name to "X of Infamy" after the band received a cease-and-desist order from Gene Simmons, owner of the "Kiss" trademark.

[76] On January 16, 2007, "Funeral For Yesterday" was released as the album's lead single;[77] it became Kittie's biggest radio hit up to that point, peaking at number 40 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart on April 14, 2007.

[75][79] From February 9 to May 25, 2007, Kittie embarked on their headlining Funeral for Yesterday Tour of the United States, supported by Walls of Jericho, 36 Crazyfists, Dead to Fall and In This Moment.

[82] At the end of the tour, Trish Doan left Kittie due to her worsening anorexia athletica-nervosa, which she developed during the production of Funeral for Yesterday.

[88] At one of the Sweet Revenge tour dates in Baltimore, Maryland on August 19, 2007, Kittie ended their set early after Morgan Lander was groped by a member of the audience, who was then attacked by the crowd.

[49] Mark Fisher of the Times West Virginian called the album "top notch", stating that its expansion on melody "[adds] yet another dimension to [Kittie's] already solid sound".

[50] Less favourably, Keith Bergman of Blabbermouth.net said that the album was mostly "plodding, rudimentary and dishwater-dull", but acknowledged that the band were "slowly getting competent", citing "The Change" and the beginning of "Around Your Heart" as displays of their "frightening potential".

"[103] Funeral for Yesterday's focus on Morgan's vocals proved polarizing with critics, and was expected to draw similar responses from Kittie's fanbase.

[25][50][52] Evan Davies of Now panned the album for showcasing Morgan's "ultra-annoying ability to sing almost exclusively through her nose as she spouts trite, clichéd lyrics about pain and suffering.

"[102] Jiwani and Bergman both criticized Morgan's limited range, with the latter blaming Jack Ponti's overuse of "robot choir" vocals on all of the album's choruses for making it both formularic and forgettable.

[57][103] Conversely, Paul Gargano of LiveDaily saw its melodic vocals as indicative of Kittie's developing songwriting and said that they made its songs "immensely more listenable".

[104] Carl Begai of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles felt that although Morgan's vocals largely dominated the album's production, they did not overshadow its "brilliant riffs, crushing Machine Head-ish rhythms and solos".

"[106] Morgan similarly commented that although she considered Funeral For Yesterday's songwriting some of Kittie's best work, its recording and production "didn't end up sounding the way I had hoped".

[107][108] In a 2024 Reddit AMA, Morgan said that a vinyl reissue of Funeral For Yesterday is unlikely as Kittie does not own the rights to the album, though expressed interest in having it remixed and remastered.