It's been eight years since our first introduction to the mysterious and intriguing world of Interpol with the majestic "Turn On The Bright Lights", undoubtedly one of the greatest debuts of the '00s. The band's eponymous fourth effort has officially seen the light of day this September and although it's rather difficult to recapture the excitement of the first time, I'm happy to report that it has passed my test drive with flying colors.And by test drive I literally mean using the album as the soundtrack to a drive around town - in my opinion one of the best ways to appraise the value of a record. If you get annoyed when you have to stop at the red lights, it means that the album is not working. But when traffic delays stop bothering you because you'll get to spend more time with the music, then the band has done its job. And when you deliberately prolong the drive just to listen to the record once more, then you're certain that something special is going on.
"Barricade" continues Interpol's streak of excellent singles, while "Success", "Summer Well", "Lights", "Safe Without" and "Try It On" shimmer with the same dark glow that we have encountered before in the band's best work. "Interpol" does not offer innovation - it's a place we have visited before, but its attraction remains strong and we'll gladly drive there one more time.
7 / 10
Barricade
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