Though Taking Back Sunday's third album is entitled "Louder Now", the album is the perfect mixture of songs that the band has never had in their music. From the "Divine Intervention" to the hard rock "Liar [It takes One To Know One", or the songs in between "Miami" this is the perfect balance of songs. This enables Taking Back Sunday's third album, with some fine-tuning, it could end up being there best album yet.
People often ask me five questions when it comes to this album, I will answer all of these questions for you in the review. The first and biggest question by the fans is, "What is the new sound like?” The second question is, "Are they selling out on this album, like everyone says they are?” The third question, "What are the softest songs on the album?". The second to last question is, "What are the hardest songs on the album?” And the fifth and final question is, "What are the songs that aren't to soft but aren't to hard either?"
What is the new sound like?
Taking Back Sunday had to go through some major fix-ups following a practical disaster and fan uproar after their second album, "Where You Want To Be". Adam tuned up his voice so it would be less whiny and more accepted by the public. Fred and Matt's guitar work has drastically improved. From the simple riff in "Makedamnsure" to the guitar solo in the ninth track "Miami", they have really improved their work no matter what the situation is they are in. You can also feel that the band took more time to make this album, 6 months to be exact, while they only spent about one month making "Where You Want To Be". The overall feel of the album, excluding the lighthearted single, is a lot more dark then the album before it, from the lyrics "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost", to the album's closer that seems to be the constant element. The sense of predictability in the guitar riffs is completely gone; as all Where You Want To Be and Tell All Your Friends songs sounded the same this album is more of a collection of songs that sound completely different. Amazing work by the band improving there sound to a less annoying and more complex form.
Did The Band Sell Out?
My answer to this ridiculous question is a loud "Hell No". Because the truth is if you were stuck up in the same situation with a chance to go to "Warner" from a crappy recording company, who advertises bands like Hawthorne Heights, yeah you would have probably have gone as well. So they didn't sell out by going to a new label. But did they sell out musically from "Where You Want To Be?” not really. If you want to make the point that they have recorded much more harder songs on this album, go ahead, but you also have to look at the amazing quantity of medium to hard songs and soft to medium songs on this album, like the songs on the previous album. So they didn't sell out musically either.
What are the softest songs on the album?
The softest songs on the album are: Divine Intervention and My Blue Heaven. "My Blue Heaven" in my opinion is the most mature written song on the album, a great song overall, but your just not used to Taking Back Sunday having distorted vocals in there songs especially at the begging of the song as an intro, so the song is going to take some time to get used to. The song once you get used to it and see it for the lyrically maturity and beautiful chorus it has, it will be one of your favorites on the album. Adam's songwriting has grown a lot from the previous two album's there is as much anger in his lyrics as in the first album, but he's not as laidback as he was in the band's second offering. The breakdown in this song is pretty unbelievable for this band, it starts out with Adam singing the verse in the chorus, singing it as a breakdown softly, this all building to Adam exploding while the instruments get louder to back him up. A pretty good ending to a great song. "Divine Intervention", is not a song that I am going to brag on but it's not that all bad of a song either. The lyrics really accompanied the acoustic beat well, the chorus is all right, but the problem I have with this song is it tends to carry on and it doesn't have a breakdown at all. The one-minute acoustic solo guitar riff, which is similar to "New American Classic" on "Where You Want To Be" doesn't do anything for the song at all. But besides these two things, "Divine Intervention is a pretty good song.
What are the hardest songs on the album?
"Spin" is definitely the hardest and most experimental song on the album. The band again brilliantly wrote the lyrics, and the hard and catchy beat makes this the perfect first song released of the album. The chorus is pretty breath taking Adam and Fred sing along and proclaim 'you had your chance, Open arms reject assuming hands". The second verse keeps the lyrical momentum going in a very fast paced and electrifies song. After the chorus is repeated for the second time, we hit a many type of guitar solo in the song, and Adam's distorted vocals begin the breakdown. The lyrics in the breakdown are absolutely freighting in a sense, and it leads to the screaming of the chorus for the last time, a great song and my favorite on the album. "Liar [It Takes One To Know One"] is probably the most fun and listen able hard song on the album. Adam begins the song kind of rapping the lyrics at the begging of the song, the lyrics are all right but their are to many pointless adjectives thrown into his vocabulary. The pre-chorus, which TBS rarely ever uses in their songs leads-up, perfectly to the dramatic chorus. The power-chord guitar riffs aren't really that intense, and neither is the breakdown, but TBS still manage to make a great song. "Up Against", though the most repetitive and the beat sounds a lot like the second track did, the catchy chorus and great surrounding lyrics written by the band make a notable track. The beat is so similar to "Liar" [again the beats are similar to me], that I often get confused on what song I'm listening to, but this songs breakdown separates it from anything that "Liar" did, Another good track. I'm not to stoked about the new version of "Error Operator", but I guess I'll just have to listen to the old version. The old version on the popular superhero movie: "The Fantastic Four", is a lot more aggressive and fun than this single it seems to move along at a pace more fitting the beat as well. It seems like the new version dives right into the breakdown of the song which isn't near as good as the version on the "Fantastic Four". An all right new version, but it would have been better if they would have just kept the old version.
What were the medium songs on the album?
The medium songs are probably the songs that are most likely to become singles on the album: "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?” "Makedamnsure", "Miami", are my three examples of these songs. "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?” is the perfect way to advertise the album, not only with the backing vocals in the chorus with Fred singing "Louder Now, Louder Now", but in that it gives you a perfect preview of what the album is going to be. Not to soft of an album, but still harder than the previous album. The song contains a pretty catchy riff accompanied by a haunting chorus and a notable breakdown. The breakdown somehow leads perfectly into the chorus [chodus to production team], and the song ends and set's us up perfectly for everything on the album. "Makedamnsure", is such a great song that even though I've played it to death, it still remains as good as a song as when I first unwrapped it and listened to it on "Louder Now". Adam's vocals sound very good and they are accompanied by the very simple but productive guitar work. You would never guess the lyrics in the pre-chorus until you are forced to look them up on the Internet, and the chorus is very well done. The song really has many parts to it done right. The breakdown of course stats that Adam is going to "Makedamnsure that you can't ever leave", and this leads to some of the best work lyrically Adam has ever done with the high-pitched vocal leading to the chorus. "Miami", has slowly turned into one of my top five favorites on the album. The song might seem like repetitive filler so the band could have eleven songs at first, but the song contains some of Adam's best vocals and some of the best guitar work I've seen by this band. The lyrics are simple but again productive "The whole truth and nothing but the truth", leads into the chorus, which is very good and well written. The thing that I really love about this song is the guitar solo after the second exposure of the chorus, and the lyrics to the breakdown are again good. Another good song for the album, and should in no way be considered a filler.
"Louder Now", is in no way a spotless album. The biggest mistakes are in track-placement, some production issues, and some songs carry on to long. But besides all of these mistakes, Taking Back Sunday have put aside their egos and made a great pop-punk album, an all around good album.
Top Five Favorite Songs:
1. Makedamnsure
2. Spin
3. My Blue Heaven
4. Miami
5. Liar [It Takes One To Know One]
