Critics distinguished the song from the White Stripes' other work. According to Teltelman, "Seven Nation Army" represented an effort to "defy categorization", especially the garage rock label that had been attributed to the band. He further wrote that it was "much more of a straightforward rock song" than the band's 2002 single "Fell in Love with a Girl". Phares found "Seven Nation Army", along with "The Hardest Button to Button", to "deliver some of the fiercest blues-punk" of any song by the White Stripes, and Alex Young of "Consequence of Sound" viewed it as the band's best song.