is how capable Interpol have become at complementing Banks's lovely ambiguity with an increasingly precise post-punk throb." Dan Tallis of BBC Music likewise gave it a favorable review and said, "What's inescapable is that Antics does sound similar to Turn On the Bright Lights. This is despite the drummer's attempt to lift the gloom by introducing a poppy, even dance drum beat during two or three tracks. [...] However, this record has been widely praised. The difference is that Interpol have progressed. The band haven't repeated the formula, they've improved upon it." Dave Simpson of The Guardian gave it four stars out of five, and said it "manages to dabble with tension and still emerge with something life-affirming." Uncut also gave it four stars out of five and called it "exhilarating, morbid, romantic, cool". The NME gave it a score of eight out of ten, and called it "an album scored through with a vehement beauty that, with each listen, becomes all the more acute for its unwillingness to shy away from life's bleaker, more painful moments." Jennifer Nine of Yahoo! Music UK gave it a score of eight stars out of ten and called it "a suppler record than its older brother, largely avoiding the skittish tempos of Turn On... tracks like "Roland" in favour of elegant curves and harmonies [...] though the road-honed likes of "Slow Hands" and "Not Even Jail" still hit bruisingly hard." Similarly, Under the Radar gave it eight stars out of ten, and said that while it is "ultimately a more sophisticated record, it's probably a less obvious one, too." Merek Cooper of Playlouder likewise gave it four stars out of five and said that Interpol "no longer rely on dense production and atmospherics, because they don’t need to: Antics is bare-boned and beautiful." Billboard gave it a favorable review and called it "even better [than Bright Lights], possibly because the band isn't trying so hard to be weird." Salvatore Ciolfi of PopMatters also gave it eight stars out of ten and said, "Altogether, the album's feel is much more lively, bouncy, and accessible, and in combination with the band's ubiquitous ambient underpinnings, the upbeat tone often makes this collection inspiring." Bobby Mann of Flak Magazine also gave it a favorable review and said that "Interpol is less indebted to its influences, creating a distinct sound from the distinguishing characteristics that drew those comparisons