AllMusic was very positive, calling it a "wonderful surprise", by "one of the finest guitarists of the past 20 years" and saying it will catch listeners "off guard", with dance record overtones and rhythms that will "grab every listener". Stevens said at the time: :
I kind of reached an end to playing real loud, aggressive stuff. With the shred guitar thing, it always seems like I was playing to guys who were standing there with score cards or something. We weren’t creating an emotional event - it was a gymnastic event. ==Track listing==