Dan Wale of Drowned in Sound felt disappointed with the album, saying that some decent tracks can't deviate listeners away from the band's attempt at maturity that comes across more sophomoric in its new sound, saying that "This is not a great album – that needs to be said while the dust is still settling. Though it's not bad, we have to disperse such a thick smokescreen before we can even start to ascertain its worth – any reward has already been bled out in the disparity between expectation and reality." John Murphy of MusicOMH said that despite Björn Ågren's guitar work saving Johnny Borrell's subpar tales of romance and rock star glory, the album reveals poor musicianship and retreads from their debut album, saying that "It's not so much that much of Razorlight is bad exactly, it's just very ordinary.
The reviewer's disappointment arises from their belief that some excellent songs are not enough to redeem the album's shortcomings, particularly in terms of musicality and originality.