By: Maria Ciezak
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Cage The Elephant’s Thank You, Happy Birthday is indeed a gift, to say the least. I know it seems like every other day I am praising this band, but single by single I have been teased and tortured yearning for this release and it’s finally bracing the world today. Maybe it’s their individuality, or their idiosyncratic fresh sound, or their live performances that turn me on. Hell, it’s all damn three. This is a must-have album of 2011. For a sophomore release, it’s on a super senior level. A 13-song collection of raucous and stimulated rock that displays an expanded sound for the band, and a bold reminder of exactly why they are one of the most valued bands in rock music today.

For anyone who is a fan of Cage the Elephant’s work, this record sounds extra put-together and far more developed than their original release. With its vicious guitar riffs, like that of the boundless hair bands of the 80’s, Thank You, Happy Birthday is an album one would expect to hear from a band who has been around the block a few times. This has confidently had time to marinate, and is not in any way the release of fresh meat. From the get-go with the blaring trumpet of an elephant, Matt Schultz will smack you with his nature of grit, kicking the album off with the ironies of life in Always Something. It displays a similar theme of the band’s 2009 chef-d’oeuvre, Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked, but multiplied and promoted. Flowing into potential single Aberdeen, this tune tosses you into favorite track mode — “Hit repeat, you got me foamin’ at the knees”. Not to forget their current radio single, Shake Me Down, which is bursting with hot-blooded high volume/quiet/high volume repeat intervals that showcase Champion’s skills, beating the drums to near-death. 2024 starts with a headbanging mode, then quickly transitions into what makes one want to do the monkey on the beach with Annette Funicello. This is followed by a ballsy lyrical smack in Sell Yourself.

In a respectable way, this album is very bipolar, containing different moods throughout: yelling, spitting, harmonizing, whispering. For example, Flow is a handsome, lax percussive tune that rounds out this album with a twinkle. I praise the band for doing this, for I find when artists replicate feelings in their music, it only augments the drive of their live shows.

I think one of the best parts of Thank You, Happy Birthday is the whole time you are visualizing the boys kick this material live. Never being beings of the norm, Cage The Elephant is a band so rare and unrestricted. Their musical makings have no limits, but in the finest way imaginable. By this, I mean they would jump in front of bullets and tackle a lion just to make music that is theirs, music that their fans want to hear. Not too forget that they’re on no occasion foreseeable on stage, for I can’t wait to see the stage get torn up on their 2011 tour.

I would like to personally thank Bowling Green, Kentucky for breeding such a brilliant, inventive group. Take a hint from the release date on this record, for each number will match this records place on the charts, 1/11/11.

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