[2] Sessions for How to Ruin Everything were held at Audio International in Ojai, California produced by Keith, Scott Shiflett, and Chad Blinman, who also handled recording.

[1] Keith said the band wrote the album as a three-piece, and were aware of the limitations of arranging music as a trio.

He noted that the band avoided "current punk-pop sounds for a gnarling rock growl.

"[7] Chart Attack writer Keith Carman found the album to be a return-to-form, full of "an impressive set of songs that blend pop melodies with a Rocket from the Crypt flare for arranging and songwriting and Straight Faced aggression".

[20] Christopher Ward of CMJ New Music Report also acknowledged the album's return-to-form status.

"[1] Ox-Fanzine's Joachim Hiller wrote that the band "have remained consistent", with the album's 15 songs "just run through and down and in and are a lot of fun.

"[21] In a retrospective review, Sputnikmusic emeritus 204409 called the album "a perfect swan song for a band that stayed pretty uniformly great through all the crests and troughs of their career.