Not every band would kick off their third album with a slow, six-minute trudge characterised by descending guitar lines, mournful melodica, and a frontman that sounds not so much suicidal as already decaying. Interpol, however, have never been shy of basking in melancholy, and Our Love to Admire is an album that just exults in it. Newly bolstered by funereal keyboards, Our Love to Admire feels full and rich where previous Interpol albums sometimes felt gaunt and bony. The old themes remain, however: emptiness, dislocation, and a rather caddish attitude to romance, as encapsulated on "No I in Threesome" or the pounding, sarcastic "The Heinrich Maneuver", a sour kiss-off to an ex-lover that sees frontman Paul Banks asking "How are things on the West Coast?/ I hear you???re moving real fine" atop taut, stabbing bass. Further in, the band experiments with some more sprawling, elaborate song structures. The excellent "Mammoth" locks into a driving groove that???! s most uncharacteristic for Interpol, Daniel Kessler trying out riff after riff like he???s dressing for some important social occasion, while the climactic "The Lighthouse" is a bare wisp of ambient guitar that might be the band???s stateliest, grandest moment to date. -- Louis Pattison

i just discovered this band a few months ago. Having listened to all three of their albums I feel their latest is the most polished and best.
Standout tracks - Rest my Chemistry, Pace is the Trick and Mamouth are fantastic. The rest are all growers and really gel the album unlike their first album and to a smaller extent Antics. In the similar vein as one of my current favourite bands, the Editors they come a very close second, and edge towards the mainstream of band like the Killers. Give it a listen!

Interpol's third offering is a bit of a disappointment.Gone is the sharp,fast-paced guitar songs of the brillant Turn On The Bright Lights and Antics.Replaced with an almost cautious take on things.It works in some senses.Opener Pioneer To The Falls and closer The Lighthouse,are two fine examples of Interpol's new approach.Two swirling guitar epics,full of drama.This is the exception rather than the rule.Other than the singles Mammoth,The Henrich Manuver and No I In Threesome the rest of this album is bland and boring.Pace Is The Trick and Wrecking Ball are both fine ordinary songs.Compared to some of the back catalogoue it dosen't stand up on its own.That this album had such commercial success should keep Interpol going and help provide a better offering next time.

Having touted Interpol as my favourite band ever, after a couple of listens to this album, I was disappointed that it all sounded the same. I couldn't distinguish any of the songs and stopped listening. As a hardened fan though, it wasn't long before I picked it up and tried again, and the more I listened, the more I grew to like it. More subtle than their previous two albums, and without an obvious hit, the album is a grower that will eventually stand the test of time and become an all-time, moody, atmospheric, but mostly favourite album.

Please. There are two very good songs on this record (I'll leave it up to you to decide which they are), but the rest sound like a band grinding out to spec, with passion and genuine feeling lost about half way recording Antics. Oh, there's one nice melodic bit of intertwining guitars on 'Chemistry', but I'm really clutching at straws to say much good about this album.

The switch away from Peter Katis as engineer (and all his amazing vintag recording gear) means that lots of the rich and luch sound that characterised the first two albums has vanished. The result, cold clinical... the album feels like the subject matter of 'Chemistry' - the empty, hollow, where-did-it-go-so-wrong feeling of acute withdrawal. Of course the lyrics should be taken literally... yet another band made bland by the chalk?

The third album by Interpol is their finest (or most polished) to date. It may take a few listens but it's all there. If your into your indie / alternative music this is a highly recomended buy.