Critics rank the album highly; Robert Christgau called the album "muscular but misshapen" in a May 1968 column for "Esquire", but went on to write that The Doors had come "from nowhere to reign as America's heaviest group". "Rolling Stone" opined that the album "has all the power and energy of the first LP, but is more subtle, more intricate and much more effective" and argued that the "whole album, individual songs and especially the final track are constructed in the five parts of tragedy. Like Greek drama, you know when the music's over because there is catharsis."