Taking Back Sunday’s highly anticipated sophomore release,
“Where You Want to Be,” proves once and for all that the band can
survive a line-up change on the heels of their successful debut,
“Tell All Your Friends” (2002).

When two of the band’s original members departed in the spring
of 2003, the future of Taking Back Sunday was uncertain. Luckily,
founding members Eddie Reyes (guitar) and Adam Lazzara (lead
vocals), along with drummer Mark O’Connell, squelched rumors of a
breakup.

They were joined by guitarist and vocalist Fred Mascherino and
bass player Matt Rubano, a musician previously known for his work
on several tracks of the album “The Miseducation of Lauryn
Hill.”

To the delight of their fans, Taking Back Sunday reclaimed their
future and set out to write and record their second album.

The similarities between “Where You Want to Be” and its
predecessor are, at first, striking: In keeping with their
previously established style, Taking Back Sunday pounds out
melodies with a serrated edge, characterized by the ruthless
repetition of a simple phrase in each song that turns over and over
like a dirge.

Their sound is anything but funereal, however; their lyrics are
dripping with pathos, in a cacophony of guilt, lust and betrayal
that is an atypical celebration of youth. Love and loss in both
romance and friendship is something that the band has perfected and
enshrined in their words.

The band ironically taunts “to hell with all your friends” in
the first single off the new album, entitled “A Decade Under the
Influence.”

Another highlight is “This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You
Know),” which appears on the soundtrack for one of this summer’s
hottest movies, “Spiderman 2.”

These songs are part of the first of two units that the band
differentiates in the track listing: Side One and Side Two. On Side
One, the music is loud, the mood paints everything black, and
shrieks offset the pleasantries of a catchy chorus.

It is almost puzzling how the band could reproduce, almost
identically, the sound they began with after replacing two-fifths
of their line-up; it’s even more puzzling that they would not make
an effort to evolve and grow into their sound, as the new and old
members of the band coalesced into a new unit.

The album’s redemption comes with “New American Classic,” which
slows it down as Side One bleeds into Two. This song is quiet,
sounding fragile in juxtaposition with the previous tracks on the
album.

Laced with the violin and a pleasant vocal harmony, this song
marks the transition into Taking Back Sunday’s stylistically
similar but richer and fuller sound that makes this album a
success. Any criticisms that arise as the first part of the album
plays out are quickly forgotten as the listener takes a journey
through the evolution of a group and their sound.

While the tracks on Side One are strong, they’re nothing to
write home about; Side Two is far more mature and markedly
different from anything Taking Back Sunday has done before.

“Where You Want to Be,” the second half of which sounds less
like a shouting match and more like a work of art, is a strong
successor to “Tell All Your Friends.”

Recommended if you like: Brand New, The Used, Story of the
Year