"Alternative Press" gave the album two-and-a-half stars out of five and said that all the album did was to "test patience". Tiny Mix Tapes also gave it two-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "a bumpy ride, registering somewhere between the latter and debut full-length "De-Loused in the Comatorium"." "The Village Voice" gave it a mixed review and said it "highlights its predecessor's brilliance rather than asserting its own." "Q" gave it two stars out of five and said that the album "sounds like an explosion in a guitar shop." "Prefix Magazine" gave it a mixed review and said, "It's sad to see a band that touts itself as experimental sounding like a watered-down, unfocused version of its younger self." "Now" also gave it two stars out of five and said it was full of "tiring, spastic jazzy post-punk that smacks of musical masturbation". "The Austin Chronicle" likewise gave it two stars out of five and said it was "more a series of events than a complete experience. It's as though the Mars Volta is simply seeing what they can get away with."