After this album the group continued touring, but Wallis, who wanted to be in "a very slick two guitar rock band", was at odds with Sanderson and Hunter's attitude of being "content to get up and jam for ten minutes".

[12] In a 1975 retrospective for NME, Mick Farren said that Kings of Oblivion "solved the Fairies' problem of original songs", adding that although Wallis was heavily influenced by Alice Cooper's work with Bob Ezrin, the resultant album was tight and tuneful.

[5] In a 1980 review, Ira Robbins of Trouser Press described the album to be an "amazing powerhouse", comprising "good heavy rock'n'roll" songs with careful structures, smart lyrics and "hot jamming".

[11] Dave Thompson of AllMusic wrote that the introduction of Wallis to the band saw them create some of their most remarkable and concise music, with an "affirmative guttercat stance that so effectively predicted the rudiments of punk rock.

[14] BBC Music's Chris Jones also underscored the record's influence on punk and heavy metal and noted that the introduction of Wallis on "big guitar" increased the band's "outlaw biker credibility".

[9] In 1991, Chuck Eddy ranked Kings of Oblivion at number 109 in his list of the 500 best heavy metal albums, noting that – more so than Mott the Hoople – the Pink Fairies laid down the scope and possibilities of punk rock, as evidenced by the titles of "City Kids" and "Street Urchin", a song about "a woman who cleans hotel rooms and copulates doggie-style", the "speedrock" instrumental "Raceway", the Jean Cocteau quote on the sleeve, and more.

[15] Eddy adds of its prophetic sound: "Speed up the tempo of 'When's the Fun Begin', retain the diction and structure and mood and message, which apparently concerns a country gone to seed so now it's time to inhale nail-polish remover, and you've got the Adverts, whom riffsman Larry Wallis would one day produce.