the Bright Lights was released to critical acclaim. The album holds a score of 81 out of 100 from the aggregate site Metacritic based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Contemporary reviews of the album often noted Interpol's influences and drew comparisons to several other acts. Michael Chamy of The Austin Chronicle cited "melodic Peter Hook-like basslines; the divine shoegazer textures of My Bloody Valentine and Ride; a peppy, Strokes-like bounce; and a singer who's a dead ringer for Ian Curtis." "It's almost as if Ian Curtis never hanged himself," began Blenders review, with critic Jonah Weiner adding that Paul Banks' vocals channeled Curtis' "gloomy moan." NMEs Victoria Segal called Joy Division comparisons "obvious and unmistakable, airbourne in the ashen atmospherics," while praising Interpol's take on the "grey-skinned British past". Billboard wrote that Interpol had created an "homage to their particular vision of the '80s that stands proudly alongside the best of its idols." Scott Seward, writing in The Village Voice, remarked: "If I like them because they remind me of eating bad bathtub mescaline in the woods and listening to Cure singles, well, that'll do. You might like them for completely different reasons." Noel Murray of The A.V. Club opined that Interpol's virtue "lies in the way its music unfurls from pinched openings to wide-open codas", while Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote that their "sleek, melancholy sound is a thing of glacial beauty". Eric Carr of Pitchfork argued that the band had forged their own distinct sound, "a grander, more theatrical atmosphere with lush production that counters their frustrated bombast", praising Turn On the Bright Lights as "one of the most strikingly passionate records I've heard this year." However, The Village Voices Robert Christgau, naming it "Dud of the Month" in his Consumer Guide column, felt that Interpol "exemplify and counsel disengagement, self-seeking, a luxurious cynicism," downplaying Joy Division comparisons as "too kind". Qs lukewarm assessment of the album described it as "predictably claustrophobic listening". At the end of the year, Turn On the Bright Lights featured on several publications' lists of the best albums of 2002, including those of Pitchfork, who named it the year's best album, NME, who ranked it at number ten, and Stylus Magazine, who ranked it at number five. The album placed at number 15 on The Village Voices year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Legacy Hailed as a seminal album of the