The album was influenced by the then growing acid scene, and Sumner's experiences at Shoom in London.

When recording on the island of Ibiza, the band was heavily influenced by the environment around them and became fascinated by Balearic club music.

[7] Stephen Morris described the sound of the Balearic beat clubs on the island they began to visit as "mad!

Chris Roberts of Melody Maker hailed the album as "a rare and ravishing triumph",[19] while John Tague of NME wrote that the band had "fashioned an LP of unflinching honesty, free from the masks of false identities of their past.

"[13] The Village Voice's Robert Christgau called New Order a "lot franker and happier (hence smarter) than Depeche Mode" and felt that the band had "lightened up".

"[12] Ira Robbins, in his review for Rolling Stone, stated that Technique "delivers a solid blast of sonic presence with immaculate playing" and called it a "surprisingly inviting album from this generally reserved outfit".

John Bush of AllMusic referred to the album as "another classic record" by New Order and stated that their "instincts for blending rock and contemporary dance resulted in another confident, superb LP.

"[22] Keith Gwillim of Stylus Magazine contended that New Order "may have made better records, but none of them defines them, sounds so quintessentially like what they were always reaching for, quite as well as Technique.

"[4] Tom Ewing of Pitchfork labelled Technique "magnificent" in 2008 and stated that the album "takes the easy interplay and full-band sound of Brotherhood and drenches it in good Ibiza vibes".

[14] However, he criticised the Collector's Edition bonus material as containing only "listless B-sides and instrumentals, and merely functional remixes".