Ned Raggett of Allmusic wrote of their influences, "rather than simply cloning [Depeche Mode]'s own style in the fashion of bands like Camouflage, the integration of that approach with God Lives Underwater's own murky rock is even better than before."[1] Marc Weingarten of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Whether this is a Ween-like exercise in genre parody or an earnest effort is debatable, but either way, it's good weird fun."[3] Annie Marie Cruz of CMJ New Music Monthly called it "a tolerable album filled with nothing you haven't heard before".[5] Chuck Eddy of Spin wrote that the album uses less guitars than their previous releases and recommended it to fans of OK Computer, though he found it too lacking in aggression.[6]