Tobias Jacobson - 3/20/2012

Taking Back Sunday, the self-titled latest record from TBS, marks the band's third major-label release through Warner Bros., and importantly sees the reformation of their original line-up from their first CD, Tell All Your Friends, after so many years of band-member changes.

With this latest album, they prove that even after more than ten years of writing, recording, and performing music, they still have what it takes to tip them above and beyond their peers into mainstream success and critical acclaim, every bit deserving of their ascendance to a major label with 2006's Louder Now.

As they have increasingly become well-known for, the first track - El Paso - is an explosive entrance into the new record, kicking us off with a bang. Mark O'Connell's iconic stadium-filling drums are the very first thing we hear, before Eddie Reyes and John Nolan's guitars come boasting and screeching into the foray, followed quickly by Adam Lazzara's octave-spanning vocals.

Lyrically, Adam's words are more powerful than ever before, and interestingly religion plays a more substantial role than it has in previous years. A kind of existential crisis is evident even from a brief glance at some of the titles - Faith (When I Let You Down), Sad Savior, Who Are You Anyway? It is his renditions of these crises in his words that have such a strong impact on us as listeners, and we empathise with the pain that he is working through as he sings.

My personal favourite tracks on the record come from those songs which feature both Adam and John's vocals prominently, climaxing in the middle of the record with This Is All Now. Just like El Paso, the song opens with Mark's drums, but here there are infinitely more contained and constrained, building up an incredible tension that is instantly released in the chorus. We hear John's voice soar above Adam's, as they demand to be told the whole truth, self-assertive and more confident than we've ever heard them before.

Adam and John's vocals bounce off each other, complementing each other perfectly, and we feel the strength they so clearly give each other in their performances. The two grew up together through their teenage years, and after years spent apart, it is very much apparent that this latest record has been an important one for them - musically, lyrically, personally - coming together once more.

This entire record is a career-defining one for the band, and bringing the original line-up together for the first time in so long is clearly something that has had a significant impact on the tone of the music. Throughout its eleven tracks, we feel as though everything we have heard from them in recent years between their first and this latest album has been suddenly and instantly transformed into something even better, even stronger. The progression is apparent from the moment we press play, something I find increasingly difficult to say with many bands these days.

The two singers are fearless in their exploration of higher melodies and harmonies, pushing their voices to the limit - and it is this sense of 'pushing things to limit' that comes across in every part of every song from start to dramatic finish here. They find new rhythms in the guitars to lay over the drums; new surges in the bass beneath; new themes previously unconsidered in the lyrics.

We feel as if they knew this was an important record for them, and can hear throughout that they have poured everything they have into this music, and then given it even more. This is one of the reasons why I simply love Taking Back Sunday, both the band and this record. They force the best performances from themselves, because they know their fans expect nothing less than brilliance - and they fulfil our expectations in every way, shape, and form.