Untrue builds on the sound established by Burial on his eponymous debut album from the previous year, notably through its more prominent use of pitch-shifted and time-stretched vocal samples.

Untrue received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised Burial's production style on the album and generally hailed it as a progression and improvement over his prior musical output.

[1] Burial then decided to take a new approach; instead of spending extended periods of time working on individual songs, he sought to "make a glowing, buzzing album, do it really fast; to cheer [himself] up".

[1] In the absence of a session vocalist, Burial had friends sing over the phone and used samples of a cappellas, editing individual words to form sentences.

[2] Dan Hancox of The Guardian wrote that while the album is "still distinctly DIY, some of the melancholy of Burial's debut has dissipated on [Untrue], which is more heavily loaded with garage-inflected vocals, and more upbeat as a consequence.

"[7] References to angels and supernatural phenomena recur in several of the album's vocal samples and track titles, including "Archangel" and "Ghost Hardware",[12] and Burial has stated that these were intended to connect to people "maybe taking a battering in their life, but [who] still handle themselves with grace".

"[1] On 17 October 2007, Scottish musician and Hyperdub label owner Kode9 appeared as a guest on the BBC programme Radio 1's Experimental Show, where he played several tracks from Untrue.

[19] "Ghost Hardware", which had previously been released on the Burial EP of the same name in June 2007, was made available for free download in the United Kingdom as the iTunes Store single of the week on 10 December 2007.

[21] Chris Mann of Resident Advisor wrote that Untrue "lays another strong claim to Burial being the most innovative and expressive artist not only in dubstep, but in the whole of electronic music.

"[12] Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic praised Untrue as being "arguably even better than its predecessor" and called it an album "where the music... takes center stage with no distractions or sideshows, where there's never the urge to skip to the next track, because they're all part and parcel of the greater whole.

"[22] Writing for The Guardian, Dorian Lynskey stated that "Untrue confirms that Burial possesses not just the keen ear of a Lee Perry or Martin Hannett [...] but a capacious heart," calling the album "as addictive as its predecessor.

[24] Tom King of Drowned in Sound branded Untrue as an improvement over Burial's debut, writing: "What gives this album more depth is the focus, the rolling symmetry and cinema.

"[11] Dave Hughes from Slant Magazine deemed Untrue "ambient music concealing its cracked modern heart with a stiff upper lip", recommending it should be listened to at a high volume.

[42] Untrue experienced a 1004% sales increase in the week following the Mercury Prize awards ceremony,[41] allowing it to re-enter the UK Albums Chart and reach a new peak of number 58.

[44] Fact named Untrue the best album of the 2000s and stated that Burial "stripped UK garage of its twitchy micro-textures and created a fabulous new strain of future soul.