come across as "more comfortable with their new-found sense of social commentary here". Kerrang! James Sherry praised the band for sticking "rigidly to the formula that got them this far" as their "melodic punk formula is still sounding minty fresh and full of life". The Boston Phoenix writer Sean Richardson said the band "play to their strengths", referring to Lindberg's "neurotic howl" their "maximum-impact" punk sound. Vinnie Apicella of In Music We Trust said the album "goes Mach-1 with melody, mindfulness and taut musicianship that are unmistakably Punk yet threateningly offensive to fast talking order takers of the big label, bloated budget variety". Ox-Fanzine Randy Flame wrote that the band "remain true to themselves and that's a good thing". He added that every track "live up to the criterion of 'catchy' and 'intoxicating, while Jeff Perlah Revolver said Dragge was "still spewing the kind of chunky, speedy licks that made Pennywise indie-punk heroes a decade ago". Rock Hard reviewer Michael Rensen noted that their last few releases "sound pretty interchangeable", and From the Ashes offers listeners "highly melodic, socially critical Calicore rubble". Mike Verzella of Mxdwn felt that it "brings back memories of cruising with the guys and jumping around at shows". Stuart Green of Exclaim! said the "14 tracks of exactly what we've come to expect. While that may sound like a band stagnating and unable to develop, there's something comforting" in the band being able to "put things in perspective". IGN writer Nick Madsen said that after being a long-term listener, he was "expecting the new album to show some signs of progression and sadly, it doesn't". While complimenting the lyrics for being "matured and seem[ingly] more focused", he criticized the structure of the songs for being the "same, the sound is the same and frankly, the formula is getting a little stale". Punknews.org staff member Jim wrote it "still sounds like Pennywise, but there are little intricacies that set this one apart from their past couple of albums". Aside from the odd track, he mentioned that the remainder of the album was "solid and some of the songs even hold up to the band's older material". He felt that the "political lyrics seem less contrived" compared to those on the album's predecessor. Punk Planet writer Ari Joffe said there was a "few good singalong punk tunes" on the album, but it mainly "stairs up ambivalence [...] it's