East Side Militia showcases the bands further progression past the widespread use of metal guitars from the last release. The release also leans more towards an electronica and industrial style, with more distortion instrumentally and vocally, including softer melodic parts in the compositions. The song "Jesus Christ Porno Star", a riff on Andrew Lloyd Webber's play of the approximate same name, is an innuendic poke at the Christian religion.[7][8]
Aiding & Abetting called East Side Militia laden with "raging beats, accessible tunes and the attitude that is almost unmatched anywhere" and credited it along with the band's debut as "awesome industrial dance albums."[10] Rick Anderson of AllMusic praised the band for being forerunners of their genre, saying "the band's 1996 swan song shows them to have been sonically prescient but a bit too nihilistic and vulgar for prime time."[9]Sonic Boom criticized the album's length but commended the personal touches that vocalist Jared Louche brought to the lyrics and said "the music is what one would expect with the band taking so much time between releases, a diverse collection of thickly layered synthcore tracks coupled with a few slower swing style love songs."[11] A critic at Option called the guitar performances by Geno Lenardo of Filter and William Tucker of Ministry brilliant.[12][13] On the other hand, Scott Hefflon of Lollipop Magazine was largely negative towards the album, criticizing the writing for being dull and describing the music as "new blah-rock with misfiring artsy yearnings."[14]
