as reviewed by mr. esq.

post-punk revival/drone pop/romantic gloom.
the first interpol album in 4 years.
like the last album (our love to admire=highly underrated), it's hard to come around to. there are no big hits to the bloodstream ala antics or turn on the bright lights. instead, this is atmospheric stuff, which can get draggy. also, like our love to admire, the hits are buried (no one two three track formula).
that said, this is still damn good stuff. sure, it's easy (too easy) to knock them as a joy division rip-off (maybe they just wear their influences on their sleeves.), but they do such a good job of it. they put a very romantic spin on the joy div sound.
RIYL: joy division, the national, parlovr, franz ferdinand, post-punk et al. drony, britty, late70's/early 80's.
the album as whole works best in segments: 1-3 is the weakest.
4-7 is the strongest. 8-10 is pretty sweet.

FCC WARNING: #8='FUCKING!'
SUGGESTIONS: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10.
1. bouncy, springy begin. it stays that way: it's interpol.
2. showdown git. then it gets into that narco dragging.
3. tick tocky begin. franz ferdinandish, but by a corpse.
4.BEST TRACK: it's beautiful&building=it's epic, baby! play this now. play this again. (yes virginia, paul banks is indeed human.)
5. NEXT BEST TRACK: this is the pop song. britty punk gits, heavy syncopats...like the best of disco rock.
6. NEXT NEXT BEST TRACK: YOU ARE NOW IN A TRANCE....
7. NEXT NEXT NEXT BEST TRACK: YOU ARE STILL IN A TRANCE...
8. FCC! you are still in a trance. nice lil' piano start. gets synco.
9. depressy and creepy.
10. a very nice ending. sweet.