The good, the bad and the review: Interpol's self-titled

Two critics give their two cents of Interpol’s self-titled, released Sept. 7 on Matador Records. The general idea of both reviews is “Interpol” is better than the band’s previous release, “Our Love to Admire,” and overall exceptional, but Interpol is out of touch with their original, addictive sound from the early ’00s, a sound we may never hear more of again.

While this theme is prevalent in both reviews, the message is conveyed in different ways.

“Good” review of Interpol’s self-titled, by AJ Ramirez on PopMatters

I’ve heard one of the more difficult reviews to write are ones of which you don’t hold a strong opinion about the artwork—positive or negative. In this review, Ramirez certainly doesn’t fall victim as it gives the reader a rundown of the album so thorough that he has exhausted the ways in which he can articulate the sound of “Interpol” into words.

Ramirez basks in Interpol history and in-crowd gossip with the departure of Carlos D shortly after recording wrapped. He perfectly frames the new album against the currently Interpol backdrop to accurately give the reader context, if not reminding them. Ramirez also cracks into the album’s first two singles, “Barricade” and “Lights,” describing them as album samplers. Ramirez gives “Interpol” a 5/10, but explains well why, in comparison to “Antics” or “Turn On the Bright Lights,” this album isn’t that great, but still an excellent effort to return to the “dark” days of the red and black color scheme.

Interpol has succeeded, and so has Ramirez.

“Bad” review of Interpol’s self-titled, by Matt De Marco of The Hofstra Chronicle

This review is best described as under labored.

De Marco—for one reason or another—didn’t devote enough attention to this album or time to articulate his opinion. While there’s one paragraph that points out what works in the album, most of the paragraphs are brief or belabored rephrasings of their lexical predecessors.

The biggest flaw is De Marco failed to communicate how the album actually sounds. Someone who hadn’t heard Interpol prior to reading this review has no idea what kind of band this is. Is it depressing indie rock or is it really the kind of crap ABC plays in promotion of their latest teen primetime drama, as De Marco so lovingly suggests at the open? Despite the tired art school language De Marco grabbed from his folder of “clever”, last-minute adjectives (repetitive, monotonic, blasé—barf), he makes no attempt to explain more intricately how the album sounds, and how that sound doesn’t work for the Brooklyn three-piece. In the bigger picture, De Marco gives us no insight to who this band is and any frame of reference for this album. How does “Interpol” compare to past works, despite “Our Love To Admire’s” debut on the Billboard charts? Is this album better than that or past albums? Did the band go through a line-up change?