Forget flickering and fading; Megan goes straight in for the kill.

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[4.50]

Jonathan Bradley: If there are second acts for American bands, “Flicker, Fade” is Taking Back Sunday’s, and it’s fitting that it’s so focused on self-destruction. The band exists as one half of a Long Island punk diptych completed by a group led by a founding TBS member — Jesse Lacey’s Brand New threw shots at his old band when he made Brand New’s first album, and the old members answered in kind on theirs. Then John Nolan and Shaun Cooper left. Then Fred Mascherino left and Nolan and Cooper rejoined. The ensuing tour, of a band reunited in a form that had only existed for one, beloved album, seemed both an effort an effort in magic and monetizing nostalgia. Could it be possible that the Tell All Your Friends crew was back? And could a group known for one (wonderful) album really trade on past glories? “Flicker, Fade” knits the gestures at opulence of Nolan’s old band Straylight Run with Adam Lazzara’s endless predilection for drama to create operatic throwback emocore that’s opulent even by the standards of a band that did much to create this aesthetic. The band that paved the way for Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance has finally grown out of its twenties and found an old age afterlife to its thirty perfect 2002 minutes. That it negs Kings of Leon is just a bonus.
[8]

Patrick St. Michel: So this guy likes that one Kings of Leon song, but he told someone he likes he hates it because…even he doesn’t know? And he needed to make a fuzz ballad about it?
[4]

Alfred Soto: More like “Snicker, Made.”
[4]

Edward Okulicz: You know, this song about something that flickers and fades… its verses aren’t that different from Cheap Trick’s “The Flame.” Except with a big, muscular EMO SHOUTING CHORUS. “Destroy what you create!” is silly but pretty satisfying — it’s not an improvement, but it doesn’t hurt.
[6]

Will Adams: A triple meter at this tempo typically sounds more lively. Fair enough; the chorus alone provides enough heft to carry the rest of this standard torch ballad. The word “flicker” is flung twice with the same rhythm, like a lightbulb pulsing its last beams. The “fade” is held on the same pitch as the first syllable of “flicker,” providing the same image of that light as it finally dies. It’s a wonderful example of text painting that retains melodic value. Shame that there’s not much more to recommend this.
[6]

Scott Mildenhall: This lives and dies by its chorus’ yellability. “Flicker, flicker fade” is a letdown — not enough syllables, four fifths of them quickfire repetition of a sound that doesn’t flow. “Destroy what you create” fares better, but it’s a little bit one-level. And “you wonder why it always ends the same” — like the song, too long. Kings of Leon actually understood all of this better.
[5]

Megan Harrington: This is a symbolic zero awarded on behalf of everyone who was ever told they didn’t know the first thing about good music. For me, that person called Taking Back Sunday their favorite band. It’s been a slow road to vengeance, but I knew I’d claim it someday and I was right. Personal vendetta aside, I also hate their fake Evan Dando lead singer and kitchen-sink mentality to anthems. Quiet/loud dynamics, string section, full band sing-along chorus — pick one, all three and you’re desperate to reconnect with an audience that would rather play Candy Crush Saga than listen to your song. 
[0]

Brad Shoup: A movie where the guy breaks up a wedding with a speech about how much he tolerates the bride’s love of “Sex on Fire” sounds like the worst thing tho.
[3]