[1] Trouser Press gave the album a very favorable review and called it "A stunning return to form.

Club gave it a favorable review and said of Jay Farrar, "Even when his overintellectualized lyrics smear into a palette of industrial gray, the guitars provide a strong human heartbeat.

"[1] Other reviews are average or mixed: Mojo gave the album three stars out of five and said, "By focusing on the temporal, [Farrar] reduces himself to simple protest music rather than timeless folk.

"[1] The New York Times gave it an average review and said, "The band's underlying, stubborn seriousness, and nearly Amish unwillingness to change, creates its appeal.

"[12] Blender, however, gave it two stars out of five and said that Farrar had "never tried so actively to fuse prescriptive politics into [the] mix, and the move feels suspect.