Will Oldham said of Berman's lyrical skills: "He has access to a kind of syntax I could never touch". Kurt Vile found that Berman's lyrics impacted him in a way unlike others of his generation.Associated Press's Mark Kennedy, noted that his lyrical style and manner of delivery "influenced scores of bands". Kornhaber said that Berman "would become the standard-bearer for kind of writing that was rich with bleak insights about the world and cunning ways of phrasing them". Otis Hart of NPR wrote that by "The Natural Bridge" (1996) Berman had "established himself as a world-class rock lyricist".