The Above was met with generally positive reviews. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 77 based on 4 reviews. Nick Ruskell of
Kerrang! stated, "The Above is an album that frequently goes the opposite way than you'd expect...they've made such a huge range of stuff work together so well...none of this feels like a loss to what Code Orange once were." Dave Everley of
Metal Hammer felt that the "[band's] willingness to move forward and break down genre boundaries...[makes] The Above is everything modern heavy music should be but all too often isn't. If this is selling out, more bands should try it." Max Heilman of
MetalSucks was positive about the band's incorporation of different genres stating, "[it transcends] anything gimmicky, as every beat switch, every dynamic shift and every production choice is as calculated as it is unorthodox." Rishi Shah of
NME felt that the album's last couple of songs weren't as strong as the first couple stating, "clocking in at 14 songs, one wonders if the ferocity of 'Grooming My Replacement' could have completed a memorable ten-track collection, with the final few tracks lacking that consistent cutting edge." Ethan Stewart of
PopMatters praised the album's "genre-fluidity and accessibility" and "while at times being as heavy as any of their old material, portrays much of what makes the genre so thriving even outside the mainstream eye." Nick Ruskell of
Sputnikmusic complemented the album's production and pacing but went on to state, "given the evident potential showcased on
Underneath...that metalcore + industrial + bleakness ting - may have borne more fruit than the brighter///broader whole here, particularly if their goal is truly as stated: to achieve something genuinely new and filthy in the knotty metallic underground. The Above is many things, but it just isn't that.
Wall of Sound compared the album to other albums that were considered changes in sound. "It's quite possible fans will embrace The Above as their favourite album, such is its point of difference to their past work, in the same way there's
NIN fans who prefer
The Fragile to
The Downward Spiral,
Slipknot fans who take
The Subliminal Verses over
Iowa and
Nirvana fans who prefer
In Utero." == Track listing ==