down by the band. He began a solo project, the Color Fred, and remarked that Taking Back Sunday was "more about cooking food than making music". Critical reception Louder Now received a score of 64 out of 100 from Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews." AbsolutePunk founder Jason Tate considered the album "closer to Northstar's Pollyanna" than to Where You Want to Be, and said that the music wasn't "anything mind-blowing. I don't get knocked on my ass like I did the first time I heard TAYF, but the catchy repetitiveness is all there." AllMusic reviewer Corey Apar called the album's name "an apt title for a super-tight, aggressive album that falls somewhere between their last two, tapping the heartfelt vigor of Tell All Your Friends in order to give Where You Want to Be a swift, square kick in the pants." Scott Heisel wrote for Alternative Press that the band "[is] spot-on when they floor it or put it in park; it's the sputtering along in-between that hurts the record." Despite not mastering "the art of the middle ground," they take "immense leaps forward musically on their third album." According to Heisel, the band should be "commended, not for just choosing not to rehash their older work, but for truly trying to branch out artistically—and succeeding most of the time." Kyle Ryan of the A.V. Club called Taking Back Sunday's sound on their debut album "fresh and raw" and their approach to Louder Now "formulaic." According to Ryan, Lazzara "changed his style a bit" and "occasionally sound[ed] like his jaw is wired shut." Entertainment Weekly reviewer Clark Collis wrote that the album's title "justifies its name thanks to a chunkier array of riffs and choruses" compared to Where You Want to Be. Sarah Dean wrote on FasterLouder that Louder Now differs from the band's records; it has "a darker mood, bigger choruses and perhaps even catchier melodies," with the "emo-pop punk flavour Taking Back Sunday are renowned for." Gigwise contributor Lee Glynn wrote that the album had "no standout tracks" other than "MakeDamnSure." Apart from the latter, "there is nothing on this album that reaffirms them as a band full of malice and bite." Spence D. of IGN gave the album a score of 6.7 out of 10: "It's a safe bet to say that TBS diehards will soak up the 11 tracks with a sponge-like vengeance. Newcomers may wonder