at new release tuesday, sarah fine wrote that this was the band "at the top of their game". cm addict's julia kitzing wrote that the band "never looked back and their albums just keep getting better." at indie vision music, jonathan andre found this to be "such a powerful and compelling album". dave wood at louder than the music wrote that he "really did grow to love it." at christian music zine, emily kjonaas rated the album a 3.25-out-of-five, and felt that because ""restart" comes at a time where computerized, auto-tuned music seems to be popular among the mainstream industry" the release may become "popular amongst that crowd." however, she noted that "newsboys fans may not find this record enjoyable, but tait-led fans will enjoy "restart"." on the other hand, daniel edgeman at christian music review called this a "stand out album." at "ccm magazine", matt conner wrote that "electronic dance music is here to stay and clearly so are the newsboys." dewayne hamby, reviewing the album for "charisma", called it "a new collection of pop-flavored tracks".