Album Review: Interpol - The Marauder

Over the course of two decades, Interpol have slowly transformed from New York indie upstarts into mature '00s rock pioneers without losing their identity.

Unlike many of their peers they've embraced the sound they helped create, with latest effort Marauder being the band's best release since 2007's Our Love To Admire.

Producer Dave Fridmann (MGMT, Spoon, Mogwai) has done away with Pro Tools and recorded the album directly to tape, giving the songs a raw yet vibrant feeling. The first single The Rover is a burst of power rock ready-made for sweaty dancefloors, album closer It Probably Matters is a dose of swirling soul and the rollicking If You Really Love Nothing is an absolute belter of a tune.

Everything that makes Interpol unique - rousing guitar riffs, striking bass lines, Joy Division-esque drumming and Paul Banks' unmistakable baritone - it's all celebrated on Marauder. Banks' moody vocals agonise about a past relationship over hypnotic guitars and pulsating percussion on Flight Of Fancy while the fuzzy Number 10 airs out a secret office romance and continues Banks' obsession with female names that sound like Stella.

Interpol aren't so much reinventing the wheel as they are improving it, crafting an album that's distinctly their own without sounding like something you've heard before.