"AllMusic's Gregory Heaney described "The Black Market" as a more toned-down version of "Endgame", while Andy Biddulph of "Rock Sound" said it was the amalgamation of all of Rise Against's previous material.Biddulph wrote how the album featured the "pressing riffs" of "The Sufferer & the Witness" (2006) mixed with the pop punk sound of "Appeal to Reason" (2008).