Matt Groening reviews Saccharine Trust in 1981 for Reader's Guide:

What distinguishes this local eight song compendium of anger and alienation from all the others is it's slightly more ambitious lyrical outlook, full of convoluted abstractions and addled sub psychedelic imagery. The nasal whine of Joaquin Milhouse Brewer is perfect for this kind of thing - "My walls are green/ My wall are red/ I only cry wolf/ When all my sheep are dead" - and the three back-up thrashers caterwaul their way through the numbers with enough vim and vigor to keep the nonreaders happy. Melodic invention is minimal, and the songs are unrelentingly solemn, but on a few of the tunes, notably "We Don't Need Freedom" and "A Human Certainty," the lack of irony and humor is offset by sneering, snarling confusion. The lyric sheet insert comes with a menacing illustration of a crucified rattlesnake by Raymond Pettibon guaranteed to make parents and youth counselors gulp and scowl.