Critical reception Like its predecessor, Steeple garnered mostly positive reviews, achieving a score of 77 on Metacritic based on 11 reviews, denoting a "generally favourable" response from critics. Writing for the NME, Emily Mackay awarded the album three and a half stars out of five, claiming that it was "just odd enough to escape period-piece pastiche" and that the band's mix of different styles and musical eras made them akin to a "UK version of White Denim". musicOMH's Gideon Brody gave Steeple three stars out of five, stating that, while the album felt more "potent" than the works of bands such as Ocean Colour Scene and Kula Shaker, who he thought were similarly in debt to the psychedelic blues-rock music of the past, it was lacking in creativity. Although Brody criticised Steeple's "timid" vocals and "Led Zep-lite lyrics" and stated that its "soul [...] will probably forever be caught in a bygone time", he felt that it was an enjoyable album and "hopefully the start of something, rather than a pinnacle". Mojo's Will Hodgkinson found similarities between Steeple's and the music of the "post-psychedelic, pre-progressive rock" period and claimed that Sharp's vocals reminded him of "Traffic-era Steve Winwood", while the album's lyrics recalled "the menace of the British Countryside in the manner of 70's horror movies". Hodgkinson awarded Steeple four stars out of five and stated that it was "an exciting, evocative album". Uncut's Peter Watts also gave the record four stars out of five, likening Wolf People to both Jethro Tull and contemporaneous Canadian rock band Black Mountain, and selecting the "elegantly ragged boogie" of "Castle Keep" as Steeple's best song. Writing for The Skinny, Oisín Kealy gave the album four stars out of five and stated that it showed evidence of their being "something a little wild" about Wolf People. Kealy went on to compare "Silbury Sands" to "The Black Keys taking on the Moody Blues or Pentangle" and claimed that the "funky flute riff" of "Tiny Circles" was an "unlikely but astounding addition" and made the album. Giving the album 7 stars out of ten, PopMatters Matthew Fiander also asserted that "Tiny Circles" was the best song on the album and commented on the funkiness of its flute riff, going on to highlight a trio of songs—"Morning Born", "Cromlech" and "One By One From Dorney Reach"—which he felt made the middle of the record "particularly strong". Like