Tanner Cusick of CMJ New Music Monthly wrote that the Juliana Theory's sound was "most engaging when some of the gloss is stripped away and a punkier edge is allowed to jut through". He said that if it was "possible to subtract the insipid elements from Third Eye Blind and modern Goo Goo Dolls and med their good parts, Emotion Is Dead might be the shiny, cohesive result. AllMusic reviewer Steve Losey wrote that the band "embraced vocal harmonies and pop flourishes, fashioning a sound that helped distinguish their band from the rest of the burgeoning emo scene." Exclaim! writer Michael Edwards. found it to be "more upbeat, almost jolly emo that skirts around the edges of that classification without truly committing to it." He mentioned that while they "do tend to rely on the same tricks again and again on every song", it was "hardly a criticism unique to this band." Punknews.org staff member Scott Heisel called it "just a very poppy rock record." He added that the album's first half was filled with "buoyant melodies that draw you in", while the second half "seems like its all filler." In a dismissive review from Punk Planet, writer Russell Etchen saw it as a highly "diverse album, ranging from Creed-like ballad crooning to Refused-like screaming [...] This band will probably be huge, and that makes me so, so sad".Etchen 2001, pp. 117–8
