 Black Emperor, being praised for its subtlety and gradual evolution of structure.However, some critical responses to the similarity with Tool were not so positive, with Joe Davenport arguing that ""In the Absence of Truth" plays out like some mediocre hybrid of Tool and "Panopticon"".Brandon Stosuy of Pitchfork Media posits that "the set's so finely wound that on the first few listens it seemed like the steady diet of Tool had perhaps transformed Isis into an emaciated, innocuous version of their older selves".