Band: Taking Back Sunday
Album: New Again
Year: 2009
Label: Warner
Myspace

Best Song: Everything Must Go
Score: 8/10
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Taking Back Sunday has always come out with ambitious album names. Starting with very promising debut Tell All Your Friends, sophomore album Where You Want To Be, their third and most successful Louder Now, which was voted the best of 2006 by Kerrang and finishing with their latest New Again.
Before writing and recording New Again the band went trough another self-questioning (as you see from album titles this wasn’t the first time) due to the departure of Fred Mascherino who had major influence on the band since the album Where You Want To Be. On New Again Matthew Fazzi was included as the new guitarist to replace Fred.

One thing I have always admired about Taking Back Sunday is their strong rhythm section. On this album its extremely noticeable. The drums are loud, yet accurate and focused and the bass is aggressive but manages to stay gentle and pure from crunchy noise, nicely attached to the drums.

With this album Taking Back Sunday goes to places they have never been in. Ideas are well structured (Sink Into Me, Swing), they are getting louder and faster (Lonely, Lonely), more personal (Everything Must Go, Capital M-E). My favorite track was Everything Must Go, it’s so honest and sincere and I love the rawness of instruments.

Actually the thing about New Again is simple. As instrumentalists they sound more focused and skillful, they approach into songwriting in a new more mature way and overall this album sounds more sophisticated, self-aware and less exaggerateing than their previous releases. But (yes there’s a but here) also they have much more radio-friendly mainstream sound and try to hit you to the face with catchy melodies (for some reason it started to be this way since Louder Now). Which happens to be the downside of this release. Lyrically its classic Taking Back Sunday, clever and sarcastic but as we know, filled with clichés. But hey, they are nice clichés.

Taking Back Sunday said that they see this album as a beginning of new era for the band. I wouldn’t count on that one, past has taught us that they try to (or are forced to) change with every album. You cant miss the irony in the album title, referring to the word “again”. But New Again has thought us that change can be a good thing.

TRACKLIST:
1. New Again
2. Sink Into Me
3. Lonely, Lonely
4. Summer, Man
5. Swing
6. Where My Mouth Is
7. Cut Me Up Jenny
8. Catholic Knees
9. Capital M-E
10. Carpathia
11. Everything Must Go