Critical Reception
"Shake a Fist" was described by The Guardian as a "brooding, industrial, 12-inch introduction to Made in the Dark". Prefix magazine described the song as having "squeaky synths and a laid back bass line playing sidekick to ominous urban jungle drums" with vocals that have "a well defined power dynamic", whilst bbc.co.uk said the song "blends terrific acidic bass jagged snares" and has "shamanic backing vocals". The Irish Times characterised "Shake a Fist" as "a dizzy skyscraper of a track, full to the brim with sonic smarts and tricks yet hard-wired to a snaking, nagging groove".
A sample of Todd Rundgren's voice was used as a result of Al Doyle and Alexis Taylor being fans of Todd Rundgren's third solo album, Something/Anything?. The reception to the sample was mixed; MusicOMH called it "delightful" but The Guardian felt it "grated". The Toronto Star highlighted "Shake a Fist" as a "top track", and described the song as "more intense and vaguely threatening than anything they've done before", although the use of the Todd Rundgren sample was described as "intrusive".
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