So here it is, , the inevitable reunion album, delivered eight years after 's last album, six years after indulged his worship via , five years after and whiled away their time with , and two years after the trio re-formed for a tour, igniting the long fuse that led to this sixth album. Produced by the three themselves, certainly is a different beast than any of the cheerfully snotty early albums, as the band picks up the gloomy thread left hanging on its eponymous 2003 album, the one that was connected ever so slightly to "Stay Together for the Kids," the hit from 2001's that signaled some deeper emotions behind the goofy facade. Very little of that slapstick is retained on ; it's been replaced by atmospheric echoes stripped from , a pretension from that's given form and a pulse by . Although there's considerably more momentum -- and hooks! -- on than either album, this still gets plenty ponderous, taking so many scenic detours that the three-minute songs often seem twice as long. are hardly the first band to equate maturity with prog rock, going so far to cop a good chunk of their themes and artistic aesthetic for from 's "Subdivisions," yet it's far better to hear grapple with adolescent angst via the perspective of middle age than vainly attempting to re-create their youth. Perhaps could stand to sharpen their words but it's better that they concentrated on their music, creating a fairly ridiculous yet mildly compelling prog-punk spin on the suburbs here. Guess the hiatus did them some good. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine