The beats grow, becoming weirder and weirder. It's easy to stray from the song to figure out what sort of instruments they were actually using. Maybe they made their own maracas with dry rice and empty butter containers. Still, the song is entirely too fragile to enjoy on its own merits, and the lyrics add to this unfortunate delicacy: "if you're calling me out, then count me out." Lines like that might show more strength in a harder song, but in this context, they add to the wimpiness of "Divine Intervention."

You can tell this was more of an experimental album for Taking Back Sunday when you listen to the disc's closer, "I'll Let You Live." It starts with a steady, guitar-based rhythm and some screaming, and then all of sudden there's some Shangri-la whispy hippy-like twist. It's weird. Too weird. The rhythm obviously changes drastically throughout the whole song, and they never seem to find their niche; it's a problem that's symptomatic of the disc as a whole.

Bottom line: Louder Now is just lukewarm. A couple of songs are worth listening to, even on repeat, but some just slide so far off Taking Back Sunday's beaten trail that it's kind of disappointing to listen to them. I have no idea what they were trying to accomplish with this album, nor what demographic they were trying to cover. Maybe they were just trying to cover all bases at once, but it didn't work. This album could spur an entirely youthful fanbase, which is already happening. When a band grows in popularity, a younger, usually more annoying audience follows in tow. That's fine, but when the band starts to cater to these new listeners and, in doing so, leaves their older fans in the dust, there will be some qualms. This is the point in the game where TBS has to huddle, rethink and strategize: a haphazard, aimless CD won't suit anyone.

Reviewed by Laura Misjak