The album deals with conspiratorial ideas surrounding alien visitations to Earth, the sinister governmental men in black, and the involvement of these elements in well-known biblical narratives.

[12] In a 2022 interview promoting his solo release Moments of Madness Cornwell reiterated this position saying "I think that we were all at the top of our game when we made ‘Men in Black’ and it comes through.

"[13] The Stranglers' bassist, Jean-Jacques Burnel, shares this opinion, stating in a 2014 interview "It was a bit of a low point when The Meninblack came out and it wasn’t regarded as the masterpiece that I thought it was.

[15] In a 2015 interview on British TV, Burnel stated that the band experimented with heroin to help their creative process, and this album was the result.

"[17] Rob Hughes, also of Classic Rock, believes it to be "[t]he closest The Stranglers ever got to a full-on prog album," adding: "In the almost total absence of guitars, synths and electronic effects dominate, be it on the very strange 'Manna Machine' or the fairground-like 'Waltzinblack'.