Exploded Drawing

 ( Polvo Albums ) 

James Oldham of NME gave the album a mixed review, with most of the review itself focusing negatively on the American alternative rock scene of the 90s from which this album emerged, particularly lo-fi music and Slacker. He criticized its "fiendish pointlessness" and "utterly indulgent riffery sic", despite comparing "the delightfully meandering 'High-Wire Moves'" positively to Pavement.

In the years following the band's reunion, the album has been viewed in a much more positive light, and has often been called their best. The Line of Best Fit called it a "sprawling double album that expanded the band’s sound from the surgically-focused twin guitar assaults to psych, Folk music, hardcore punk and all points in between. It felt like an ambitious mission statement from a group not content to simply dole out the riffs to anyone who wanted them". A Treble review of In Prism found it to "bear the same skill and adventurousness" of this album. Pitchfork Media called the "epic double-album statement" the band's "critical peak ... which saw them successfully unraveling their bee-swarm guitar buzz to explore the polarities of their sound, from Psychedelic folk lullabies to brutalizing post-hardcore." In a retrospective article on the band's discography, Louder Than War hailed the album as Polvo's best & a "masterpiece" which "represents its namesake in every single way." Sputnikmusic staff member Hugh Puddle similarly described the album as "definitive", praising the tight performances, "banger" songwriting, "innovative" guitar-work & lyricism. In his book Gimme Indie Rock, Andrew Earles opined that Exploded Drawing "should be put in a rocket or a time capsule as the ultimate proof that indie rock could reach perfection, years into the game, while being so ahead of its time that future generations are still trying to catch up."