 
Back in 2011 Taking Back Sunday reunited with
their original line up and quickly went on to
release their self titled fifth studio and now
nearly three years on the band are back with their
sixth studio album ‘Happiness Is’
, the album features 11 tracks and runs for just
over 40minutes and features Taking Back Sunday
in a more mature and confident way than ever before.
The album opens with ‘Preface’ which
is a pretty pointless introduction that adds nothing
to the album but that is soon forgotten as the
band smash their way straight into the outstanding
‘Flicker, Fade’ which is easily as
enjoyable as anything from the bands earlier albums,
the song is extremely catchy and is bound to work
its way to becoming a fan favourite as it really
does have that long lasting classic Taking Back
Sunday feel running throughout.
‘Stood A Chance’ is the bands current
single and is also a big listenable song which
is enjoyed best with your speakers whacked up
to the highest sound level as the riffs, drum
beats and general instrumental work is great yet
it is the solid vocals from Adam Lazzara which
really grab your attention as he is seriously
on top form here.
‘All The Way’ opens up in a soft way
but as the song progresses it really starts to
get going and things start sounding like what
you would expect from Taking Back Sunday with
big drum beats and emotional vocals from Adam
Lazzara as his vocal style changes with the pace
of the song as it works its way from being really
soft to slightly upbeat.
The likes of ‘Beat Up Car’, ‘They
Don’t Have Friends’, ‘Better
Homes And Gardens’ and ‘We Were Younger
Then’ are all big upbeat songs with ‘Better
Homes And Gardens’ easily standing out the
most out of the tracks due to the bouncy nature
and melodic chorus of the song, whilst ‘It
Takes More’ , ‘Like You Do’
and album closer ‘Nothing At All’
show a much softer side of the band which in a
way seem to act as a filler as the songs really
do lack that big in your face Taking Back Sunday
feel.
Overall I feel ‘Happiness Is’ is a
real mixed bag, when it’s good it’s
really good and easily up there as some of the
best material the band have ever written but the
slower paced songs tend to let the album down
slightly as they are songs which I can’t
see people giving much time to, however I am sure
the hardcore fans of the band are going to love
the album.
4/5
Review by Trigger
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