Trouser Press wrote that "quibbles about the occasionally melodramatic lyrics, in which the passage into adulthood dissolves into tragedy, are obliterated by the ferocious attack."[5]
In a retrospective review, The A.V. Club wrote: "Skirting grunge, pop-punk, post-hardcore, and emo—all of which were erupting at the time—Strong Reaction has aged with a rugged grace that puts most of its contemporaries to shame."[6]
