it's a sturdy, often absorbing record from a singer who is determined to be in it for the long haul." Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe gave a positive review, noting how Bentley has a career that he's built on the "bedrock concepts that feel more quaint all the time: musicianship, emotional integrity, and hard work", which just happens that "Those elements again make themselves known on his stirring seventh album". At Country Weekly, Jon Freeman graded the album an A, stating that the album is "leaps and bounds" from his first song and shows how Bentley grew as an artist "incrementally, in a way that feels effortless and natural." Dan MacIntosh of Roughstock rated the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, noting how "The quality of his songs speak for themselves" on the album, which he declares Bentley has "never been better." Yet, MacIntosh writes that "Riser may pass the emotional balancing test, but it’s nevertheless a few rungs short of content perfection." At Got Country Online, Tara Toro rated the "ballad heavy" album four-and-a-half stars out of five, calling it "an unhurried record" that is "full of reflective, emotional and mature songs"; and "Throughout the record, one hears Dierks’s gravelly vocals, perhaps at the best they have been, pouring emotions into every song." Nashville Country Club's Lisa Coleman rated the album four stars out of five, alluding to how the release "features an excellent track listing of songs of both intense and light hearted nature." However, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times gave a mixed review of the release, indicating this is a "hit-or-miss album." At Rolling Stone, Andrew Dansby rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of five, noting that "Compared to what gets played on country radio, Dierks Bentley can almost sound like a traditionalist, with his hickory voice and songs about drinking"; however Bentley on Riser "devolves into a standard-issue world of bikinis and Bud Light." In 2017, Billboard contributor Chuck Dauphin placed three tracks from the album on his top 10 list of Bentley's best songs: "I Hold On" at number one, "Drunk on a Plane" at number seven and "Bourbon in Kentucky" at number ten. Commercial performance Riser debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200 selling 63,000 copies in its opening week, becoming his seventh top ten album. It also debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, his fifth