It’s been an extraordinarily long time since we’ve heard new music from Taking Back Sunday. Their last effort Tidal Wave was released all the way back in 2016, a more mature and focused output of a band trying to keep a firm grasp on their roots while still moving forwards with new influences, which garnered a mixed reception. The seven year gap between albums is the longest of the band’s career, placated somewhat by a greatest hits release (Twenty – 2019) and a twentieth anniversary re-issue of their post-hardcore classic debut Tell All Your Friends in 2022. 152 looks to shake up the formula for Taking Back Sunday, looking at the band from a fresh perspective and renewed ethos.
The album opens with ‘Amphetamine Smiles’, a soft introduction with just acoustic guitar and Adam Lazzara’s immediately recognisable vocals. It’s a very emotional start to 152, very sweet, somber and reflective. The added string orchestration and piano lend to the vulnerability and heartbreak in the lyrics. When the band kicks in everything feels right, a more mature and forward facing sound from Taking Back Sunday whilst retaining their heartfelt core. It’s a sincere and honest rock ballad and that’s okay, it works very well. Lead single ‘S’Old’ opens the gates a little, showing off what the band have in store. Synths start to peep in immediately, supporting the band throughout the song and adding to their sound. Again, it feels like a modern take on TBS, touching some more foreign elements but blending them well into the band’s established sound.
‘The One’ was the first snippet shared from 152 prior to the album’s announcement. At its heart a love song about love and acceptance when one is at their worst, this is the first indication that things are about to change as 152 continues. There is no satisfying climax to the lower-key sections; it plods along with the same energy, even when there is meant to be a sizzle it inevitably falls flat. “Keep Going” is one of the more interesting moments on the album, choosing to embrace more new-wave and goth inspiration musically. The melodic synth lead is captivating, and there’s a unique atmosphere being created at first. Lazzara’s vocals sound incredibly poppy, seemingly saturated in AutoTune which gets regular use across the album. The instrumental break as the song fades out is one of the best moments with the added bubble synth lead building tension on top, but the rest of the song lacks real punch.
From this point onwards the album starts to lose its identity somewhat, the pacing starts to stagnate and it gets harder and harder to tell the songs apart as they blend into one another. ‘I Am The Only One Who Knows’ is a pop song with soft synthesisers and the guitars squarely in the background. The saccharine song filled with longing honestly sounds generic, even for a lovelorn ballad. ‘Quit Trying’ has another calm open, taking a light touch to its vocal-led pop. There is a nice melodic bassline going on from Shaun Cooper, but it feels like some broader pop elements are thrown in for the sake of it. The exact same thing can be said about ‘Lightbringer’, soft synthesisers dominating the song. The vocal harmonies are nice, synths bubbling in the background as a driving bassline starts pushing forwards, though the big vocal hook in the pre-chorus is so reminiscent of Don Henley’s ‘The Boys Of Summer’ that it’s hard not to break into its chorus when following along. The rest of the song goes smoothly for the most part, like a poppier version of the sound that made them famous.
152 could very well be the most lyrically vulnerable place Adam Lazzara has written from, which is a strong statement considering the band’s heart-on-sleeve lyrics throughout their career. There is a lot of raw self-reflection and pain being channeled into the words. He also channels this into some excellent vocal performances at points on the album, but one of the strangest stylistic choices is the over-abundance and use of AutoTune. It feels alien, even if the band are trying to lean into a more pop-oriented direction and strips back from the honest and raw intensity of some of the lyrical passages.
The album was produced by Tushar Apte (BTS, Blackpink, Demi Lovato), whom the band met through a mutual collaboration with superstar DJ and cake throwing wizard Steve Aoki, and mixed by Neal Avron (Twenty One Pilots, Bleachers). With the CVs of those involved in handling the production, it’s easy to see how this album ended up as the poppiest thing TBS have ever done. The most arduous difference is the distinct lack of bite when the band are playing full force; even with Tidal Wave’s attempt to cast a wider stylistic net, when the instrumental kicks in, it still kicks hard. That is absent on 152, the cathartic explosive emotional energy never manages to blow a gasket, it ends up feeling like a puff of smoke in comparison.
‘New Music Friday’ might be the biggest offender of the album. Employing a melodic vocal opening to stir singalongs, the song quickly falls into painfully generic form. It has a very emotionally charged radio rock sound, like the soundtrack to teenage girls jumping and crying thinking about the friends they made along the way. It’s in dire need of a powerful chorus, but just isn’t up for it. The start of ‘Juice 2 Me’ has a really interesting little manipulated guitar melody from John Nolan, but it swiftly breaks into more of the same soft and somber sad rock. It gets quite close to the more classic TBS at times, but still saturated heavily in the pop production that permeates the album as a whole.
Unfortunately the band return to the same ebb-and-flow repeatedly across the ten tracks. It is hard to tell a lot of the album apart, save for a guitar hook here, a vocal melody there or a particular synth sound. That’s not to say that diversifying their sound doesn’t work; songs like ‘Amphetamine Smiles’ show they can take a new approach to their sound and make it work. The same can be said about ‘S’Old’, bringing more electronics into the fold. However, for the most part, a lot of the tracks here sound like different songs have been smashed together under the guise of diversifying their sound.
No one should be expecting a Tell All Your Friends or Louder Now Part 2; bands grow and mature as their careers continue. However the problem is 152 leans a bit too far the other way, the over-reliance on generic pop clichés to establish accessibility with a wider audience hurts the album’s quality. They sound closer to what 30 Seconds To Mars were doing in 2009, with more of a punk background but without the cohesive blend of alternative and pop music they excelled at in that time. Taking Back Sunday’s efforts should be applauded for following on from Tidal Wave so many years later and trying to bridge wider inspirations into their sound, but it just doesn’t work here.