Like its predecessors,
Lapsed received positive reviews from critics upon its release. "The achievement of Lapsed" wrote Jason Ankeny for
AllMusic, "is that for the first time, it's possible not merely to get lost in Bardo Pond's music, but to let it actually lead you somewhere as well -- certainly a trip well worth taking." Pearson Greer, reviewing the album for
Opus, called it a "
dirty album, and wonderfully so at that. Guitars are so thoroughly caked in distortion that
Sabbath and the
Valentines seem like they’ve been playing cotton gins all these years in comparison. Bardo Pond doesn’t just evoke heavy rock or
shoegaze sensations though, they do something in between and much better."
Chicago Reader's Bill Meyer was similarly positive, hailing the album as a "blazing return to earth. The group still works up open-ended, exploratory jams whose contours gradually coalesce out of a haze of thick, distorted tones generated by bassist Clint Takeda and brother guitarists John and Michael Gibbons. [...] But now these ethereal elements are tethered by riffs that recall the sludgy downer rock of early
Dinosaur Jr and "
Iron Man"-era
Black Sabbath; and where drummer Joe Culver used to sound like he was lost in the morass, his pummeling, cymbal-heavy attack now pushes the rest of the band through it." A mixed review came from Angela Lewis of the British newspaper
The Independent, who wrote: "Bardo Pond are not exactly the artistes to spin when granny visits, being wilder than a herd of
Nirvana wannabes on the rampage, but a strong sense of purpose underlies the broody noise-scapes of this 5-piece from Philadelphia." British musician
Alexander Tucker would later name the album as one of his favorites & an influence, noting that "[t]here is a strong emotional aspect to this band that a lot of other
experimental rock acts lack." ==Track listing==