With two hit singles, The Fallout is widely considered Default's best work and was their biggest commercial success, gaining platinum certification in the United States.

The second single, "Deny", was featured on the soundtrack of the popular NHL 2003 game by EA Sports and also received a great deal of air time, helping launch Default into the mainstream of Canadian rock.

A special edition of this CD, alongside a DVD, included the bonus track "Blind" and acoustic versions of the lead singles "Deny" and "Wasting My Time".

Stephanie Dickison of PopMatters gave praise to the album's professional yet naturally sounding production and Dallas Smith's performance for giving off the right amount of energy in his notes despite being a bit jovial at times, but felt the band would face problems being similar to 3 Doors Down, Lifehouse and Nickelback, saying that "For a debut, it is excellent.

"[1] David Browne, writing for Entertainment Weekly, noticed a slight difference between this and Puddle of Mudd's Come Clean apart from taking elements of grunge into their respective albums: "Default’s debut, The Fallout, is more up-tempo and burly, yet they still manage to use the word never 32 times in one cut (”Slow Me Down”).