This album loses a lot of the screaming; a vast majority of the album is this shout that is in between a scream and singing. A few songs have some lyric problems, like its a poem being shouted to some music, rather than a song. A few of the songs sound like they are emulating some 80's metal style into their own.
While I was disappointed with this album, it's not to say it is completely bad; there are some great songs here. "And Sadness will Sear" & "This World Can't Tear Us Apart" are great songs, but not in the same way as "Dieing in Your Arms" from Ascendancy, this album lacks songs that are great & addicting like that one.
I love the 8 min instrumental song at the end "The Crusade"
That is a fantastic track.

I love this album, the songs are amusing and very catchy.
Farting With the Walkman On, is the worst song on the album, and the skits are annoying after a few listens.
Ralph Wiggum is a song simply about The Simpsons, specifically references the episode where Ralph is part of a boy band with Bart, Milhouse & Nelson; and their group is formed to brainwash people into joining the navy, thus the "yvan eht nioj" you hear in the song ("join the navy" backwards). [and leave me alone if i got something about the episode wrong]
Subtract those and the silence from the end of the CD & the Album is about 30 minutes.
I love all the other songs. It is very well done, a little nu-rock, i find it very addictive and a great album. My main complaint is that it is too short, especially after so much time since their last album.

This album is great, but if you were a hard fan of them before or just like it real heavy, then you probably will not be very happy with them now. The songs are addictive & catchy, the distortion and heavy harmony are usually saved for the chorus to make it sound more powerful & makes it much easier to tend to sing along. This comes off as more of a melodic alternative metal; Smashing Pumpkins lead singer, Billy Corgan, co-writes some of the lyrics. This shows the band may be moving more in that direction. I find Lost in the Woods & Violent Seas to be the albums best songs.