Final Rating : 7/10
Taking Back Sunday is a band that has a historical background to it, per say. The band has been making music for over a decade now, has gone through several different band members, but has also brought upon a great amount of success. They are most successfully known for their albums “Taking Back Sunday”, and “Tell All Your Friends”. After a couple years, the band is back with “Tidal Wave”, an album stemming more from their roots and original sound.
There could not have been a better song to open up with than “Death Wolf”. The track begins completely silenced, and gradually gets louder and louder. It begins very slow paced with some synthesizing that is very well produced. The idea of “easing” into the true upbeat style of the song was so well portrayed and really made for an excellent introduction. However, the one downfall of the song would be the vocals that take place during the bridge, they were a tad too “rustic” sounding for my own personal liking. Not to say that vocals that sound that way are entirely unattractive however, it just did not fit in with this particular track. After this portion, to ease back into the upbeat style the song resumes to how the introduction sounded, which was awesome.
Surprisingly, the title track “Tidal Wave” was slightly underwhelming. After listening to the epic introduction, I was left expecting a bit more. It was not that the track sounded bad in any way however, it did not necessarily catch the ear. Instrumentals and harmonizing were done very well but the harmony itself just is not anything “spectacular”, and reminded me of Green Day in a sense.
“I Felt It Too” is such a beautifully put together track. This song has a gradual build up throughout it, which goes along with the emotion you’re supposed to feel. It begins with light vocals and acoustics, but very slowly and gradually it builds up throughout the song, along with the lyrics and emotion that they want you to feel. This track is a display of how close you can really be to someone and feel the emotion that they feel, because they mean so much to you. The most perfect way of displaying this would be the lyrics, “I know you’re tired, I feel it too.” Acoustics are so defined in this track, making it that much more beautiful and intimate. Slowly, more vocals are added in, as well as instrumentals; this is reference to the “build up”.
Vocals in “You Can’t Look Back” were not the most attractive. It sounded like the singer was over aiming for what he could sing, almost as if he was just yelling. Overall the vocals were not flattering to the track but, there were some very beautiful riffs in this song, especially during the softer parts of it. The highlight of this track would be the end of the song with the layering between vocals, drums, and acoustics.
There is such a strong appreciation for the energy that is put into this album, and the passion you feel from the band while listening to it. Of course the band has made alterations of members and style throughout time, however this album really does give some reminder and thought of their older work, unlike their prior album “Happiness Is”. It also displays that they have not lost their original style and yes they have expanded on it throughout time, but it is not lost.