Louder Now starts out with a 1-2-3 explosion, featuring three of the most impressive songs Taking Back Sunday has written since the departure of John Nolan. “What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost” kicks the album off with a swift smack in the face. The galactic and high-paced guitars, high-octane drumming, and an baseline that blows any of TBS’ previous work out of the water, they all show us exactly what the band was going for; shear intensity. Following “What’s It Feel Like...” is a rapid guitar strumming which leads us into the next step of the album; “Liar (It Takes One To Know One)”. “Liar” isn’t as strong as the previous track instrumentally, but in terms of lyrics and vocals, this track is witty and very contemporary. Adam Lazzara spits his vocals out with more passion than ever, and the way he drags his words on, give the song a reggae attitude. MakeDamnSure, the first single off the album, is a perfect mix between the remainder of “Louder Now” and “Where You Want To Be”. The song is catchy, softer than a majority of the new tracks, yet it’s just as impressive as the rest of the CD.
Following the more than impressive opening trio, is “Up Against (Blackout)”, which is a track that is reliant on Mr. Lazzara’s vocals and the tempo-changing guitars. Towards the end, the drums play an impressive role, when they build up and add tension that TBS rarely fiddles with. “My Blue Heaven” is a lyrically driven track, showing a softer side of the new TBS, while still keeping the guitars heavy and the drums intense. “Twenty-Twenty Surgery” is the next song up to base, and this is a standard track for the album. It’s catchy, but the instrumentals are heavier than anything you would have heard on Where You Want To Be.
“Spin” is the track off of Louder Now that has really been catching buzz, for good reason. Spin is one of Taking Back Sunday’s most intense songs yet. If you enjoyed “The Union” from Where You Want To Be because of it’s fast and furious instrumentals and vocals, well prepare yourself for “Spin”. This song is “The Union” on steroids, no word of a lie.
While I can’t go into detail on every song, prepare to be impressed by the lyrical quality of “Divine Intervention”, the dancable riffs of the new summer anthem; “Miami” and the intensity of the re-born “Error Operator”, which sounds better than ever. As we wind down the eleven track album, things pick up to finish off with a bang in the song “I’ll Let You Live”, which displays the passion and range that Adam Lazzara can truly work into his music.
There are so many things that have improved in this album, especially in comparison to “Where You Want To Be”. The vocals are more passionate, the guitars are all sonically drive, and super intense. The drumming is getting better and better, adding urgency to every song. My only true complaint is the fact that a lot of the lyrics in this album just don’t make sense. While the song writing has improved ten fold, there’s still some issues with the lyrics that are displayed on this album. However, for every cliche lyric written on this album, we get one more ste of lyrics that blows the negative out of the water(see: the ending of Miami and the whole Divine Intervention song).
No longer is Taking Back Sunday relying on repetitive choruses (“A Decade Under The Influence”), and no longer are they trying to be what they once were. I’m impressed that the band decided to take their own route with this album, and it turned out great. While this album is not as good as Tell All Your Friends, this album is so much better than all the other releases which were complete imitations of Tell All Your Friends. Louder Now is a great album, it’s definitely one that fits perfectly in you car stereo with your windows down. If you’re still not sold on this album, give it a listen, it captures all the energy of a live set from Taking Back Sunday, it’s full of tongue-in-cheek lyrics that are going to be posted in away messages everywhere. Louder Now is truly the reinvention of Taking Back Sunday, and I’m damn happy with it.
"Louder Now" is on sale April 25, 2006 from Warner Brothers.
