and methodical determination; pulling firmly with one hand and jabbing angrily with the other, Fugazi opens the door to a world of mixed emotions and conflicting impulses. The pressure instilled by the band’s ability to hold itself to an economical beat and escaping shards of tense guitar is barely relieved by the stormy whorls of flat-out aggression into which they typically feed. (The instrumental “Steady Diet” whips the latter into a dangerous froth.)" It also notes the band's guitar sound ("a loose-stringed jangle like an electrified fence being plucked") and the "urgent" vocals of MacKaye and Picciotto. The guitar tone on "Long Division" has been described as being "so dry, they could have been recorded direct." "Latin Roots" recalled the band's earlier dub-influenced stylings, with Canty laying down a Stewart Copeland-influenced drum beat. Trouser Press praised the band's avoidance of "obvious" lyrical themes for the most part, noting that: "Unlike most punk anthems, the haiku-like lyrics of “Exit Only” will probably still convey the same meaning 20 years from now." A retrospective write-up on the album by Stylus Magazine's Cosmo Lee similarly writes that: "Unlike, say, Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name," a closed system of slogans, Steady Diet leaves space for interpretation, sonically, lyrically, and visually (the figure on the cover will forever remain inscrutable). In this way, it's Fugazi at their best: ditching the easy answers of Minor Threat, and asking hard questions." The song "Long Division", for example, "examines the slow, no-fault disintegration of a friendship" whereas "Latin Roots" - a song about a "sexual encounter" - sees Picciotto coming to terms with his own Italian ancestry. (AllMusic's Andy Kellman additionally notes that his idiosyncratic vocals on the song result in many of the lyrics being commonly misheard.) The song "Runaway Return" even "recasts the age-old prodigal son story in a modern context." However, much of Steady Diet's lyrics are still political, with Guy Picciotto recalling that the band at the time were affected negatively by the then-ongoing Gulf War: “I think we all started to feel that America was just becoming a madhouse, [...] and it depressed us a lot.” An anti-war theme was noted in the lyrics to "Nice New Outfit" in addition to the band's usual anti-consumerist stance. "Dear Justice Letter" was inspired by Supreme Court liberal stalwart William J. Brennan, who had recently retired. The band addressed the subject of personal