"Melody Maker"'s Paulo Hewitt gave the album qualified praise, summarising it as "a kaleidoscope of sound and imagery, new forms, and content, flashing before our eyes". Singling out the tracks "Paradise Place" and "Skin", Hewitt called them "classic Banshee pieces. Hypnotic, relentless and incisive". Writing for "ZigZag", Kris Needs hailed it as "probably the most varied, diverse and adventurous offering yet to shimmer under the Banshees' banner", praising the band's new musical direction: "If anything, it makes its two predecessors, seem a trifle one-dimensional now. Tracks veer from the lightest electronic backdrop pulse to surging soundwalls as mesmeric and powerful as anything they've done. But the subtlety evident in 'Happy House' and marvellous 'Christine' are the pointers to the main content of 'Kaleidoscope'". Needs noted that Siouxsie's voice "gained new strength and depth, but she's also widened beyond singing and writing to include synth, piano and a spot of guitar".