Entertainment Weekly writer Sean Richardson found the album going back to the band's early hard rock sound from their
1997 self-titled debut, praising Josey Scott for crafting tracks that pay tribute to 80s hair metal and penning both "aching redemption songs and seething revenge tirades" that make it more contemporary. Johnny Loftus of
AllMusic was mixed about the material throughout the record, criticizing the band's foray into "glowering, melodramatic plods ("No Regrets, Vol. 2", "Eyes Open")" and slumming with "massively compressed, hard-head rockers ("Carry On", "Fuck All Y'All")" but highlighted the title track, "Rock & Roll Revolution" and "Razor's Edge" for containing quality hard rock credentials with a Southern style, concluding with "That said, it's too bad the rest of
Survival of the Sickest panders to unimaginative industry and genre posturing."
Chuck Klosterman, writing for
Spin, criticized Scott's musical craftsmanship on the album for giving the band a "crisis of confidence" when delivering his skewed vision of rock music, concluding that "Still, there's some
Godsmackian guitar work on
Survival of the Sickest, and the production has a
Montana-esque vastness that will undoubtedly sound good on terrible radio stations across the U.S." ==Track listing==