Rock critic Lester Bangs, who had derided the band's first two albums, applauded Vol. 4, writing in Creem, "We have seen the Stooges take on the night ferociously and go tumbling into the maw, and Alice Cooper is currently exploiting it for all it's worth, turning it into a circus.
Kerrang! magazine listed the album at No. 48 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time" [REF].