Ah, Taking Back Sunday: the quintessential emo band, right down to the meaningless name. Arguably, their 2002 debut Tell All Your Friends was Generation X’s shift in the evolutionary trail that began with Fugazi, mutated to Jimmy Eat World, and after TBS, spawned malformed acts like Panic! At The Disco that dominate the alternative scene today.
Thankfully, before the sub-rate emo band issue spirals completely out of control (oh wait, too late) they return with a third album that reminds us all what emotional hardcore music is supposed to be, and how those terms needn’t restrict a band from taking the listener to realms never thought possible.
This higher purpose means there’s less room on the album to provide the sugar rush of singalongs like ‘A Decade Under The Influence’. In their place is a neatly packed menagerie of quiets, louds, mighty doses of urgency, all with Adam Lazzara and Fred Mascherino’s vocal interplay which is more complex and fervent than ever. Lead track ‘MakeDamnSure’ contains all of the above, and a Lidl-sized chorus to boot. ‘My Blue Heaven’, meanwhile, contains a string section! On an emo record! Holy shit!
Such ambitious songwriting often aims a little too high and ends up sounding - what’s the technical phrase? – a bit crap, so it was a continued stroke of genius to invite over Eric Valentine, the man who saw through the production of the equally striving Songs For The Deaf by Queens Of The Stone Age. The end result is an album which is tight but not overproduced, passionate but not clichéd, driving but not like Pete Doherty on the run from the fuzz.
While this doesn’t quash the slight longing for the melodic rock blow-outs they do so well, it’s a most welcome alternative to their alternative.