Taking Back Sunday "Happiness Is" Album Reviewed

The new Taking Back Sunday album is a masterpiece.  Started in ’99, they’ve released some killer albums, toured with big names, and really built up a massive reputation.  They’re positively iconic, and their new album, “Happiness Is” just furthered my love for them and their music.

“Preface” is a simply opening track that fades right into “Flicker, Fade”, a powerful song with a punching chorus; Lazzara’s voice is beautiful, and this tune shows their versatility because with the change in drumming style, adding in more guitar details and adding more layers to the sound as a whole is really impressive and lovely.  It’s a perfect way to start an album.

“Beat Up Car” is a brilliantly composed song.  It has such a unique sound, with a hint of old but a lot of new techniques and definitely shows growth.  I love the bridge of it, with all the group vocals and how it builds up; I can’t even imagine how great this song is going to be live.  It gets me so pumped up and it’s probably my favorite on the entire album.

I love how “They Don’t Have Any Friends” sounds like a really old TBS song, like off of Tell All Your Friends.  It’s fast and loud, with lots of backing vocals and a driving drum beat.  It’s really nice to see them going back to their roots and making them tinged with their clear experience.

The hype behind this album has been immense, and I was just as excited as the next fan, but I didn’t quite understand the fanatics making such a big deal out of this release in particular.  That was, until I read what Lazzara said about it:

“In the past when we were on a major label there would be A&R people giving us suggestions but with this album it was just us pushing ourselves.  There is no question to me that Happiness Is is the best unfiltered representation of what happens when the five of us get in a room together and that makes me really happy.”  Nolan ends this by saying, “this album really is a testament to each of the members talents because it’s just us.”