[3][4][5] The title for this album was chosen to reflect the philosophy that guided the writing of the material – of many parts coming together to form a greater whole.

It is the last release to feature original bassist Jordan Eberhardt, who left the band in early 2012 after no longer wishing to tour full-time.

[13] Phil Freeman wrote for AllMusic to compliment the group for opting to write songs with actual expression and not merely showing their technical talent off; he described The Collective as "a cohesive aesthetic experience, meant to be heard from beginning to end", and rated it 4 stars out of 5.

[17] Blabbermouth.net applauded The Collective as what reviewer Scott Alisoglu described as "an instrumental album every bit as musically engrossing and melodically enchanting as one with vocals", as he stated that Scale the Summit's "performances are [not] over the top in a technical sense" because the members of the group come together to "[create] a whole that is greater than the sum of those four parts".

He closed his review by saying that although the band had not "reinvented the instrumental form", they have made an album thereof with greater coherency than is typical of the genre.