Released: 2018

Genres: Post-Punk Revival, Alternative Rock

The Musiquarium’s Marauder Review Score: 6 out of 10

For Interpol’s sixth studio album, they’ve teamed up with producer extraordinaire Dave Fridmann, who is known for producing/mixing albums for psychedelic bands like The Flaming Lips, MGMT and Tame Impala, though there is nothing psychedelic or colourful about Marauder at all — in fact, it’s actually quite monotonous.

If You Really Love Nothing is a fine enough opener, but the drum beat sounds like an inferior version of the beat to The Strokes’ Red Light. The Rover is one of the better tracks here, though Paul Banks sounds like Ozzy Osbourne when he sings the chorus. The rest of the tracks all blur together, other than the two interlude tracks, which are textbook examples of filler.

Marauder is a different type of boring from the band’s eponymous album, as the band sounds more energetic than they were there, but these songs are mostly just uninspired, generic Interpol songs. Sure, the musicianship is competent and often good, but that’s a given with a professional band of Interpol’s status, with the listener expecting more than just the bare minimum. You wouldn’t even know that Dave Fridmann was involved with this, and although the production isn’t bad, his talents feel wasted on Interpol, so perhaps they were the wrong group for him to work with. Despite it not being one of the band’s best albums, El Pintor was a step forward for the band, but Marauder feels like a step back.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Interpol on Discogs.

Back to the 2018 Album Reviews Guide or the Interpol Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard