Allmusic staff writer Steve Huey gave the album four and a half out of five stars, saying, "The album's strength is its mournful, elegiac ballads, but thanks to the band's spontaneous creative energy and appropriately warm sound, it's permeated by a definite, life-affirming aura." "Rolling Stone" staff writer David Fricke gave "Temple of the Dog" four out of five stars, saying, "For "Hunger Strike" and "Reach Down" alone, "Temple of the Dog" deserves immortality; those songs are proof that the angst that defined Seattle rock in the 1990s was not cheap sentiment, at least in the beginning. And you can't help but love the irony of an album, made in great sadness, kick-starting the last great pop mutiny of the twentieth century." David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the album a B+. Browne said, "Maybe because the musicians avoid the often-labored anthems they play with their own bands, the songs sound relaxed and airy without losing any of the crunch or drive of the best arena rock." He ended by stating, "Singer Chris Cornell's lyrics remain as annoyingly oblique as they are with Soundgarden, but don't worry. Just sit back and revel in the whomping guitars of Mike McCready and Love Bone member Stone Gossard as they mesh with the imaginative pummeling of Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron—the untamed side of the much-hyped Seattle sound, in all its wailing glory." In 2016, it was ranked #12 in Rolling Stone's "40 Greatest One-Album Wonders".