"Awake" received acclaim from music critics. "Q" wrote that "fans of Marillion may well love this, and even the sceptical listener can enjoy the crunching, radio-friendly choruses of "Scarred" and "Caught in a Web"." "Guitar World" ranked the album as one of the top ten releases of the year, stating that "this shred party left me punch drunk and, for once in my life, fully "Awake"." "Metal Hammer" dismissed "Awake" as "musical masturbation": "Progressive rock is basically a very adolescent notion of what 'grown up' music might sound like - more notes, longer solos and, best/worst of all, convoluted concepts... Their propensity for pomposity extends to the ballad "Silent Man", which would probably like to be Queensrÿche's "Silent Lucidity" but in fact sounds like Stryper on a particularly pious day". The album has since sold nearly 400,000 copies.