From contemporary reviews, American critics J. D. Considine and Ken Tucker predominantly complemented the hip hop production of the album in lukewarm reviews, while it received greater praise from British press magazines Melody Maker and the NME who included it in their Top 10 albums of 1986.

Mantronik used the Roland TR-808 drum machine on the album stating that he loved the bass the record gave.

[4] Mantronik saved $80 for studio time and cut a demo for the song "Fresh is the Word" with MC Tee.

Tee did not recall where "Fresh Is the Word" was specifically recorded, suggesting it was "some fashion institute or art school".

"[8] Tee recalled that Mantronik would work on beats on his Roland drum machine and they would meet up at his apartment or at the Sleeping Bag Records offices.

[9] After the financially successful release of the single, Socolov quickly moved to have the group record a studio album.

[12] Poppo recalled that Mantronik "wasn't a technician in the studio back then by any stretch, but he was deep into music and hip hop culture.

[16] From contemporary reviews, J. D. Considine gave the album a three star rating, noting its sound was "pretty run-of-the mill for hip-hop" with its "vintage electronic percussion" and M.C.

They assemble their jams with funky finesse, revving up the machiner behind "Bassline" until the rap evaporates into pure rhythm" and that "Mega-Mix" was "about as CONCRETE as this music gets.

"[19] "The Album"'s track "Bassline" was praised by Ken Tucker who called it the most well-known cut as "a slinky dance-music composition that employs rap-music cadences to achieve a choppy frenetic effect" while stating the rest of the album "Isn't as innovative" with the exception of "Mega-Mix" which was "almost abstract collage of sound effects, comes close.

"[20] Paul Mathur of Melody Maker proclaimed the album went "for the paint stripper approach, burning away electro's lesser indulgences and leaving hard core hip hop of the highest order.

[22] From retrospective reviews, Nate Patrin of Pitchfork found the album to have "undergone a strangely accidental evolution" finding that it was "Beloved by veteran heads yet considered incredibly dated in the sample-artisan Dre/RZA/Pete Rock/Primo 90s, it's since started sounding a lot more like a well-aging and prescient forebear of Southern bounce and hyphy".

On February 12, 2008, Traffic Entertainment Group released a double-CD edition of the album, titled simply Mantronix, with an extra disc and new cover art.