Many reviewers praised the sound of "Lions" but felt the songs were weak. Writing for dotmusic, John Mulvey highlighted the "gutsy, no-messing sound", but appreciated "Cosmic Friend" for being "as impressively mad as you'd hope, too, beginning like Beatles psychedelia, taking in massive Brazilian drumming and a touch of pedal steel, before coalescing into furious heavy rock." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic described "Lions" as a "powerful, textured hard rock record that covers a lot of ground, surging from powerful riffs to gospel choruses and funkier-than-expected riffs", though he also complained that "the songs can seem incomplete." Critics disagreed on which songs were lacking, though. "Losing My Mind" and "Young Man, Old Man" were called "highlights" by Jane Stevenson of the "Toronto Sun", though elsewhere the former was called "woeful" and the latter a "'Freddie's Dead' vamp" that should have been skipped.