I agree that this album has some awesome music and is full of great songs, but the reason it isn't praised as much is because the production is bad.
The guitar tone sounds weak, thin, and dirty.
Russel sounds sometimes like he's singing too far from the mic. It is as if there is unintentional reverb on his vocals, and the drums sound so thin they remind me of the crappy sound of Mikkey Dee's drums on "Them". Often, the snare drum gets buried in the mix.
I love the songs from this album, took awhile to grow on me, but I wish the production was better.