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Alternative rock hasn't seen anything like this since the release of Turn on the Bright Lights. The catch: not only is The Back Room better, it holds promise for even better things in the future.
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Alternative PressWhere [Interpol] often seem weighed down by their own miserable aura, Editors sound brightest in teh depths of their blackened pop gems. [Apr 2006, p.204]
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It is such a perfect counterfeit that it feels like the genuine article.
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The Back Room is an agreeable, sturdy, and surprisingly re-playable debut, one which should probably keep any brooding college kid who’s worn out his copy of Antics happy for the coming autumn.
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"The Back Room" is, principally, a triumph.
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It’s how Interpol would sound like if they dealt with universal themes and reflection rather than singing about fellatio fantasies with Stella, or their length of loves.
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The Back Room is a fine album that proves you can look backward while paving the way forward.
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Entertainment WeeklyBands like Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen are hard acts to follow, especially when they're followed so deliberately. [24 Mar 2006, p.70]
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MojoGuitars, sounding like synths, soar into the stratosphere, and intense crescendos linger over delicate, breathy passages. [Aug 2005, p.94]
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It's an album of consistently high quality from start to finish.
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A debut that will endure.
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Paste Magazine[They] possess a knack for tempering melodrama with minor keys and predictable beats. [Apr/May 2006, p.102]
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If you were disappointed by 'Antics' then this'll make up for it, and if Interpol's last offering did agree with you then you'll spend the rest of '05 at least giving this a great big hug.
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The Back Room is an assured debut album from a promising band.
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Q MagazineAs much as The Back Room is a victory for style, it also strikes a blow for substance. [Aug 2005, p.135]
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Leavening the melancholy with a tense, literate sense of foreboding, The Back Room flows like an obsidian wave from first song to last.
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They’re good at what they do, but what they’re doing is painting-by-numbers from someone else’s book.
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The longer you listen, the better they become.
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Under The RadarEditors' sound is deeply and thoroughly derivative, to be sure. But they do it so well that by the time each chorus rolls around, you won't even notice your Robert Smith mascara running. [#10, p.110]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 97 out of 112
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Mixed: 12 out of 112
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Negative: 3 out of 112
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EdgarApr 30, 2007Truly spectacular!
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DJApr 8, 2007
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kaytMay 17, 2006