Rating
3.5

Taking Back Sunday (TBS) named its latest cacophonous album New Again because members said they felt like a different band. Who knows why? Few, if any, differences exist on the album, and in this case, different isn’t always better.

Somehow, this mediocre pop-punk band has gone through no less than six lineup changes without managing to pen a song that sounds original, let alone listenable. It is possible, even today, to have completely original music — so prove it by doing it.

New Again starts off with its title track, driving the point home with the repetitive titles, as if they’re saying “We’re different! Really!” The only true difference between New Again and TBS’s other equally terrible albums is that now they sound bored.

For example, “Carpathia” sounds like vocalist Adam Lazzara just recovered from laryngitis. “Lonely, Lonely” could be about giving up, but the execution is lazy.

Then there’s the self-destructive song, “Cut Me Up Jenny,” another emo tune, glorifying self-inflicted pain and pathetic, damaging relationships. Lazzara is 28, and as weird as it sounds, he ought to act his age.

I’m not sure which I hate more: the castrated screaming whining or the castrated monotone whining.
Instead of thinking of Taking Back Sunday as a new act, many people will pick up the album and say, “TBS has a new album? Again?”