Writing for AllMusic, Corey Apar called the record "dark and dense, yet accessible, a shadowy air permeating every crevice where Jesse Lacey's plaintive and often tortured lyrics aren't already residing." believing the album would give them to opportunity to break into the mainstream if they wanted to. "Alternative Press" highlighted how there was not a song on the album that could even be compared to material from their debut "Your Favorite Weapon", whilst only "Not the Sun" and "Archers" bared any resemblance to material from "Déjà Entendu" believing the album to be dark, difficult, depressing and desolate, "Devil is the sound of four men hitting absolute rock bottom and desperately trying to rescue themselves through any means necessary; we as listeners are forced to hear the band suffer as a means to reach catharsis-all presumably for our edification" likening it to Modest Mouse and Radiohead's "The Bends". Ben Sisario of "Blender" proclaimed the album to be "as creepy as it is magnificent" hailing Lacey's ability to write songs that "teeter between the gorgeously placid and the exhilaratingly hideous, Lacey leads a bipolar odyssey of blood and guts and desperate prayer". Andrew Blackie of "PopMatters" praised the album, calling it "certainly more mature, putting breakup and self-infliction clichés, thankfully, behind them".