[2] Inspired by The Verve's 1995 album A Northern Soul, Lavelle wished to move Unkle in a more song-oriented musical direction: "My frustration was that I didn't want to make weird instrumental hip hop records.

[2] In February and March, Unkle recorded "The Knock (Drums of Death Part 2)", with Mike D of the Beastie Boys performing vocals and Jason Newsted of Metallica playing bass guitar and theremin on the track.

[5][28] NME reviewer John Mulvey wrote that DJ Shadow's music "rarely gels with Lavelle's chosen singers or even comes to terms with the song (as opposed to groove) format of much of the material".

[22] Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian said that while the album successfully sustains its "foreboding" mood, "its strength is also its weakness: somewhere amid the sprawl of bad dreams it turns into nothing more than meandering tunes with spooky keyboards attached.

[30] Among more positive reviews, Dorian Lynskey raved in Mixmag that Psyence Fiction demonstrates that dance music "can use rock vocalists, guitars and orchestras without losing its sense of otherness" and "be dark and expansive without becoming self-important".

[21] Barry Walters of Spin found the music "chaotic but never overwhelming" and described the album as "the illest soundclash since the last time a b-boy crashed a George Romero film festival and refused to turn off his boom-box".

[27] In Rolling Stone, Lorraine Ali called it "neither a lofty concept album nor the sonic equivalent of cinema", but concluded that "it is Shadow and Lavelle's striving for such greatness that makes Unkle a compelling work in progress.

[5] AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the album "gains momentum on repeated listens" due to "Shadow's imagination and unpredictable highlights", calling it "a superstar project that doesn't play it safe and actually has its share of rich, rewarding music.

"[18] In a retrospective piece for The Vinyl Factory, Eliot Wilder expressed similar sentiments and noted that Psyence Fiction had "gained cult status for its chaotic collages and maverick collaborations", adding that "it feels today like the kind of crazy, alt-star-strewn mash fest that it is.

"[6] Chris DeVille of Stereogum said that it foreshadowed music by "likeminded ecumenical collectives like Gorillaz and Handsome Boy Modeling School", and that "in terms of quality alone, it's worthy of remembering as one of the best albums of its era.