The opening bars of the first track, “Untitled,” give a good indication of what is to come, a wall of sound reminiscent of The Verve’s early work, because of the sort of constant sound that doesn’t really pulse but is steady and ethereally addictive in a rock ‘n’ roll sense. It starts the album off in an instantly appealing way as the constant crossed strumming of the guitars is brilliantly simplistic and addictive. “Obstacle 1” has a pleasant, driving force to both the music and the vocals. It blows around the room like a storm that stirs you up and drives you mad with wonder. The way the guitars and drums answer each other and the sheer drive of everything makes this a tune that gets into every crevice. “NYC” slows things down and again there’s that wall of sound, with various guitars crossing over each other for a pulsing, ever-present sound that undulates and blends with the vocals. Much of the album has a driving, unrelenting style that makes you want to keep turning up the volume.

A lot is going on in each track, but it is mixed in a way that does not draw particular attention to any one instrument or the vocals, but instead blends it all together in an aggressive way that is like a pleasant jackhammer in your ears. While at times the music kicks into a great old-fashioned rock riff, there is a lot of contrapuntal sound, both between guitars and percussion, that really serves to give the music that driving force. It isn’t so much a driving beat as it is just a constantly and unending wave of music with the guitars pushing off of one another. They sound very haunting, reflective and angry; morose and pensive.

There is an incredible amount of feeling both put into and coming out of each song. It makes the listener appreciate Interpol and their passion for music. Hopefully they’ll continue to be a little bit raw like this and future albums will maintain the same grit, if not the exact same style. These guys don’t pull any punches with what they want to do. Their style is uniquely their own and remains consistent and enjoyable throughout. To say the least, we should be expecting great things from Interpol and we should also hope that the New York-based rock renaissance continues.