Critical response to the record was generally positive. Victoria Segal at the UK-based "Melody Maker" viewed "The Colour and the Shape" as a significant American rock release, writing that it was "a great rock album at a time when great rock albums are viewed with increasing suspicion." Segal's review described the album as leagues ahead of other post-grunge acts: "The first album might have been a collection of loveable songs, but lacked the sheer visceral attack that thrills this time round," Segal wrote, calling it "attack that would have[… almost any other US rock band biting their nails in anguish and embarrassment." Writing in "The Guardian", Adam Sweeting found that the "glorious" album saw the band tempering their grunge sound with a more developed flair for pop songwriting.