Slipway Fires was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 52 based on 15 reviews.[3]
In a review for AllMusic, Andrew Leahey wrote: "Slipway Fires is Razorlight's most mainstream release to date, an album that downplays the band's garage-rock past for something akin to Snow Patrol's adult-approved pop. Enjoying Slipway Fires requires a suspension of disbelief, a conscious separation between the band's past and the (somewhat ludicrous) present."[4]Drowned in Sound described it as "a headachey throb of over-production and excessive sentiment" and "about as indie as Margaret Thatcher",[7] while the NME described them as "just a boringly competent indie band masquerading as, at best, Fleetwood Mac and, at worst, Whitesnake".[10]
Writing for The Austin Chronicle, Raoul Hernandez explained: "Razorlight's Slipway Fires manages a glow even in low light. Between the two best tracks that bookend the UK quartet's third LP struggles an album slighter than the last, which was already thinner than the first."[5]