Every Jimmy Eat World Album: Ranked From Worst To Best

2007's Chase This Light seemed to be aiming for a grand mission statement. "We're back!" they shouted, "And we're ready to light up the radio waves again!"

Jimmy Eat World took a significant detour after the monstrous success of "The Middle" propelled them - unsuspectingly, no doubt - into the mainstream limelight. Their next album, Futures, was kind of a moody bummer by comparison. Rather than continue down this darker path, however, they made a conscientious effort to get back to the catchy anthems found on Bleed American. ("Big Casino" and "Always Be", in particular, could very well be abandoned demos from those sessions.)

Songs like the rollicking "Electable (Give It Up)" harken back even further, recalling the power chord pop punk found on Static Prevails. Things get even more upbeat with "Here It Goes" and "Feeling Lucky" - the former a pseudo-dance rock jam and the latter perhaps the cheeriest rock track the band's created this side of "The Middle".

There are a couple of diversions into some menacing, almost gothic territory, but are just that: diversions.

How much you can get into Chase This Light will largely depend on your familiarity with their discography up to that point, and whether you can appreciate a band simply doing what they do best without stretching outside of their comfort zone.