InterpolSoft Limit **

Word had it that the fourth Interpol album would mark a return to the exciting, reverb heavy darkness of the New Yorkers' era-defining Turn On The Bright Lightsdebut. The word was wrong. Putting something of a halt to the band's steady upward trajectory of recent years (U2 support slots, major label courting) this self-titled album is laboured from the start. From Paul Banks's metallic vocals to Daniel Kessler's freshly ringing guitar, the ingredients appear to be present and correct. Yet essentially we've heard it all before. Do Interpol want to go somewhere new or are they happy to retread the same steps they took to get here? And how willing will their fans be to make that journey with them? "You know us," Banks repeats on Barricade. Too well it seems. See interpolnyc.com

Download tracks: Barricade, The Undoing