Rolling Stone (4/6/95, pp.64-65) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...The first great grunge band from Seattle has composed the last great grunge record....The result is stunning....Grunge is dead. Long live grunge..."
Spin (5/95, pp.98-99) - 6 - Good - "...For the first time in ages, Mudhoney kicks up a varied enough muck to sustain itself for an entire record, mixing anthems and epics with slow Delta-punk and faux goth-metal..."
Q (5/95, p.109) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Bunged up with riotous subversions of rock star orthodoxy and a barrage of barbed lyrical jibes at the Moral Majority...blends the familiar guitar frisson with a portfolio of lean, cleanish melodies which will certainly breach the defences of slumbering radio executives..."
Alternative Press (5/95, p.72) - "...wonderful Mudhoney bastardizations of Blue Cheer/Black Sabbath guitar noise, glutinous layers of distorted, fuzzy guitars and lots of wah-wah congeal in great, epic twisting riffs, concealing an underlying melodic sensibility..."
Option (5-6/95, p.117) - "...They've stuck to their guns with admirable tenacity...If you've stuck with them this far, you'll want this one..."
Mojo (Publisher) (9/03, pp.116-117) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...COW is a highly consistent set of songs, performed with evident zest and purpose..."
Rovi