The album was largely panned. Alexander Cordas from laut.de rated the album one out of five stars.[1] He found that Prelude to History offered "the same old polyphonic sing-song over and over again, just as if the vocal coach had completely failed [...] There are one or two voices that have a penchant for gratification."[1]
Chart performance
Prelude to History debuted and peaked at number forty on the German Albums Chart in the week of 11 November 2004.[2] This was a considerable decline from the band's previous effort Girls in the House (2003), which had opened at number two ten months earlier.[2]