The album is largely centred on percussion, and Levene has described it as "probably [...] the least commercial record ever delivered to a company." Similarly, the "Trouser Press Record Guide" states that "the music is so severe as to lend credence to a record executive's statement that "The Flowers of Romance" is one of the most uncommercial records ever made – at least within a 'pop' context." Simon Reynolds has described the album as highly experimental and preoccupied with moving beyond the defining standards of rock music, subsequently making it a pioneering post-rock record.