Brian Sella and Matt Uychich have come a long way from New Jersey since their self-titled debut and have brought company with them on their latest album, with Tom Warren and Ciaran O’Donnell on bass, guitar/trumpet/keys, respectively. The band has evolved from a modest two-piece to more of a full band, with the keys being featured much more prominently than previously, not to mention much more electric guitar. That’s not the only change since their folk-punk(?) debut; this is the band’s first album on mega-label, Fueled by Ramen (home to such acts as Paramore, Fun, and Twenty One Pilots).

So, five singles were released before Back on Top, and the band has been playing “the Plan (F**k Jobs)” for over a year, which makes their latest feel more familiar than it probably should. The good news is that what we’ve already heard is the worst of the lot…unfortunately, it’s also the best. The band’s transition into this synth-heavy, college freshman “indie” act has been an awkward one at best (although that final label has plagued them since the beginning, imo). The opening line of “Help” says “Some of us go through some changes, some of us go through some phases.” Let’s hope that The Front Bottoms grow out of this one quick. They’ve never been a technically-proficient band, but (to me) they’ve always gotten by on charm and personality. The band has excelled at the awkward (Browsing through the lyrics of almost any song, one can tell that it’s one of their favorite words.), but the uncomfortable feeling of listening to Back on Top is like watching a friend who is trying to be somebody that (s)he just isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, there are songs that would have felt at home on their sophomore effort, Talon of the Hawk (“Historic Cemetery” and “Laugh Till I Cry”), but it feels to me as if they’ve outgrown themselves, yet choose to sidestep this evolution rather than maturing. (On that note, I nominate “The DJ just threw up on the dance floor” to be one of the laziest pop punk lyrics of the year.) Some other clunky efforts include a rap verse at the end of “Historic Cemetery” (one of the album’s highlights) and a spoken word bit on the album closer, “Plastic Flowers.”

Back on Top is the worst type of album. For me, the kind that you root for despite all the red flags preceding its release, but ultimately confirms your worst fears. It’s the kind that not only makes you as a fan less enthusiastic about the band’s future endeavors, but that also makes you reflect on their past efforts more cynically. The band played “the Plan” (back then only titled “F**k Jobs”) when I saw them tour with Say Anything on the Hebrews tour. (The band wears their influences on their sleeves on this album. There is even a line in “Summer Shandy” ripped straight from a popular Brand New lyric.) In a live setting, I was very excited to see how it would transfer, but the mixing of the album version loses its edge. When “West Virginia” was released, I thought it was a solid 3 out of 5 track, something catchy, but ultimately derivative and forgettable. Sadly, that’s my favorite song on the album. Writing this review not as a critic, but a fanboy, it saddens me to give this album such a low score, even more so to say that it feels a bit generous on my end.

Back on Top: 4.5/10