Thom Jurek of Allmusic gave it 3.5 stars out of 5, saying that, "Machine Messiah continues to build on the diverse proggish elements displayed on Dante XXI, A-Lex, and Kairos, while re-engaging with the thrash and hardcore that made 2013's The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart so compelling."

He described the album as an "ambitious, angry, hungry outing", and that, "Sepultura remain vital in their creativity; they expand their palette dramatically while fully integrating the sounds that brought them here.

"[8] No Clean Singing praised the drumming, saying, "The other thing that really brings Machine Messiah to life is drummer Eloy Casagrande, whose own writing on this record is phenomenal.

He approaches the album in two extremes: He either sticks to the super tried-and-true basics or he just throws something completely fucking out there (see the fucked-up blast-beats in "I Am The Enemy"), and shows that he's not only filling the shoes of his predecessor just fine, he's outright superior to him in every regard as a living, breathing groove factory.

"[11] Already Heard praised the musicianship, saying, "The playing on this record is unbelievable, Andreas Kisser is on fire throughout, Paulo Jr's bass is heavy as hell and drummer Eloy Casagrande is stunning in his versatility.

However, the one track that stands above is the absolutely massive 'Sworn Oath', its cinematic orchestration and angular guitar lines cut into a pounding bass drum that leads into as epic a thrasher as you are likely to hear."

Everything is turning into a controlled digital monopoly, pulling our human strings into a handful of directions that we end up having short attention spans or enter frustrated confusion.