Through Silver in Blood has received widespread critical acclaim, with some publications citing it as both one of the first and one of the best post-metal albums.Jim Martin, "Retroaction," Terrorizer #188, September 2009, p. 80. AllMusic writer Eduardo Rivadavia gave the album a perfect score, praising the album's challenging and rewarding nature. Writing for Rolling Stone, Steve Smith called Through Silver in Blood Neurosis's "transformative masterpiece: a titanic mix of hardcore, industrial and sludge-metal notions and sampled soundbites, balancing oppressive heaviness, hypnotic repetition and surprising vulnerability." Fact placed the album as number one on their list of best post-metal releases ever, writing, "This is alien, and can be unpleasant, but that’s the point – this is the spiritual successor to Black Sabbath, the album that started it all." The A.V. Club writer J.J. Anselmi said, "Through Silver in Blood has played an undeniable role in defining post-metal, and its influence reverberates in the sounds of countless bands. But this album inflicts levels of disorientation, fear, and hopelessness that few records have attained in the past 20 years, giving Through Silver in Blood a shelf life that has yet to glimpse an expiration date."
