Supported by the singles "Spin" and "Take Me Away", the album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 but did not perform as well commercially as No Name Face.

Billboard published a positive review of the album, with writer L. F. describing it as "as close to bullet-proof as one can get...meticulously measured and carefully designed" and Wade as a "top-shelf songwriter" with a "knack for weaving smarter-than-average lyrics into tightly constructed, instantly memorable melodies."

[3] In contrast, AllMusic's Dean Carlson felt the album was "exhausting", given that several other bands had a similar sound, and felt that Aniello and Brendan O'Brien's production "transform[ed] possible sincerity into self-importance and drain[ed] the band of any real individuality.

[14] Four months later, sales reached the 300,000 mark, "a definite comedown" from the band's debut album No Name Face (2000).

The album's domestic commercial performance was attributed in part to a lack of promotion—the band went on tour in Europe first, at the direction of its label, to "make up" for previously only touring for a week in the territory in support of No Name Face—and the absence "of a breakout hit on the scale of 'Hanging By A Moment'".