The musical style of Showroom of Compassion is grounded in the band's unique style of alternative rock, combining droll, often esoteric lyrics rife with word play and syncopation, catchy distorted guitar riffs, complex bass patterns, Moog and prominent use of trumpet.

[7][8] Near the beginning of recording, John McCrea and other members of the band stated that their new album would sound very different from their previous material.

[9] In an interview with the Sacramento News, McCrea revealed that the music on the album would range from "aggressive rock songs" to "weird pseudoclassical compositions".

[11] During the first recording sessions, Cake released a statement saying the band would convert the electrical components in their studio so it would work solely on solar power.

Cake worked with Callicore Studio in 2011 and released an animated music video for the song "Long Time".

The cover features a shaded, framed image (of a tiger attacking a person) instead of the band's usual flat-color printed imagery.

[1] The physical release of Showroom of Compassion was packaged with a temporary tattoo of a bee, which the band asked fans to apply to themselves, take pictures of, and post online.

Mark Deming from AllMusic writes, "Willful eccentricity is something that demands a certain degree of commitment [...] So Cake are to be commended for sticking to their oddball guns for close to 20 years.

Club maintained that "[The album] isn't a huge departure from what Cake boss John McCrea and company have done before....