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from ALL MUSIC GUIDE:

Having scored their fluke hit with "Stars," Hum hunkered down and created a follow-up album that went nowhere, leading to the band's splintering. An unfortunate result all around, because, arguably, Downward Is Heavenward isn't merely the group's best album, but a lost classic of '90s rock, period. Taking their sense of the epic and the equal but opposite sense of the tender and personal to striking new heights, the quartet finds a remarkable balance throughout between world-shaking arrangements and gentle connection. Opening track "Isle of the Cheetah" sets the tone, Talbott's singing the still center of a just wonderful, huge rock-as-symphonic-burst song. Other individual highlights abound: "Ms. Lazarus," which turns from tight little post-punk skip into a tempo-shift-arrested rockout, "Afternoon With the Axolotls," and its amazing balance between Talbott's delivery and skyscrapers of feedback and drums, the squirrelly interaction between the watery guitars and Talbott on the verses of "Dreamboat" before another bomb blast. What's especially nice on Downward Is Heavenward is that, while sounding as detailed and precise as possible, even when completely letting go, there's none of the Brian Wilson fetish that ultimately overdetermined so much end of the millennium rock with indie leanings. No orchestral touches, horns, or the like — keyboards, yes, but otherwise the band relies on the traditional rock lineup to come up with its results. Ironically there are a couple of hints of bands inspired by the Beach Boy — "If You Are to Bloom" has the same feel of 1992-era Boo Radleys, while in turns pointing the way to the work of 12 Rods. But ultimately this is Hum as Hum, catalyzing the calmest of singing and delivery via some of the biggest sounding music around. All this and no cheap attempt to rewrite "Stars" either — Hum, clearly, had something special.

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from PITCHFORK MEDIA:

To put it in NBA terms, Hum heavily favor The Sonics. These four Champaign, Illinois boys string effects pedals together like a charm bracelet, and their amp stack must resemble the mountain of crates in the closing shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Layers and layers of guitars swarm like hornets and harriers around your head, as the occasional intricate detail bursts out as if one buzzed right by your ear. A listen to Downward Is Heavenward actually scrubs off a layer of skin, yet Hum still manage to infuse grace and control into their skyward swirl.

The songs tend to run 5+ minutes and the lyrics read like obtuse love poetry an aerospace engineering student writes on little notes to the cute girl in the back of the classroom. Despite these two burdens, Hum still suck the listener into their feedback-and-riff maw here, creating their best output yet. The next few months could have these four geeky emo kids Siamese dreaming of mainstream success.

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Signal Drench names DIH the #26 album of the 90s:

Although they've spent the majority of their career a square peg in a round hole, Hum's monolithic but deeply personal brand of loud guitar rock worked too well to dismiss the band despite its failure to succeed commercially. They were a band who appealed mostly to folks of indie tastes -- signed to a major. Their lyrics were abstractions of the most confessional and touching level - delivered over a smart loud thud that Black Sabbath would appreciate. So tragically few got to hear Downward Is Heavenward or its more diffuse predecessor You'd Prefer An Astronaut, two works of concentric spiral guitar and heartfelt monotone singing that made cultists of everyone who heard them right.