In his review for Spin, Christopher R. Weingarten made comparisons with Champion Sound, saying that the album "has none of Jaylib muted minimalism, opting for a barrage of manic rhymes and delirious clattering noise - haunted-house pianos, car crashes, backmasked ickiness, end-times news broadcasts, Godzilla whines, convulsive turntablism, and even the YouTube clip of a cop eating pot brownies".[5] Tom Breihan of Pitchfork wrote: "rapping on Gutter Water is almost beside the point. Oh and Alc are producers first, and Gutter Water would work nearly as well as an instrumental album. And together, they've created a messy, impressive pile-up of half-broken piano loops and dense, clattery drum programming. It's a hazy, stoned piece of work, an expansive extended head-nod, everything it sets out to be".[3] Sean Ryon of HipHopDX found the album "an unrelenting head banger that cleverly blends the best elements of California's underground Hip Hop scene. Lyrical setbacks aside, Gangrene's debut is an infectious combo of Alc's Kevlar-tough street anthems and Oh's musically off-kilter production".[1] Alex Bahler of PopMatters resumed: "despite Gangrene's (worthwhile) commitment to keeping it realer than radio, the visual metaphor on Gutter Water is a stretch: the music isn't shit, but it's not the shit either".[4]
