Closed Casket

Because of the Satanic themes of his earlier work, Esham had been accused of Satanism. Feeling that the lyrical content of his albums was being taken too seriously, Esham decided that after producing one final album with such material, he would no longer rap about the Devil.^[2]

Jason Birchmeier noted that "the production improves upon past albums, not as reliant on samples and obviously more crafted".^[1]

Allmusic wrote "most fans taking a chronological approach to his catalog should be fairly numb to Esham's exploitative shock attempts. Yet if this is one of your first experiences with Esham the Unholy, this album should pack a punch with its dark nature."^[1]