5 years after their last album Songs About Jane, American pop-rock band Maroon 5 is back with a brand new offering It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, the name (according to lead singer Adam Levine’s Weblo profile) being inspired by a phrase the band adopted to keep them motivated while on their Songs About Jane tour .

Hailing from Los Angeles, Maroon 5 is Adam Levine, James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden and Matt Flynn, formerly Gavin DeGraw’s drummer. He took over from Ryan Dusick who left the band because of arm injuries that made him unable to drum.

According to NEWS.com.au, Adam Levine, the lead singer and guitarist of Maroon 5, explained that the new album is a “little more self-confident and powerful lyrically…. you can dance to it, there’s a little more attitude”.

And more attitude is definitely what you get when you give this fantastic album a listen.

There is huge lyrical improvement over 2002’s Songs about Jane and Levine’s vocals are soulful and more powerful. The album is also upbeat and edgy, and has lots of groove, giving it a very retro feel. Levine was also quoted in the website saying that the new album is “sexier and stronger”, and the band gained the inspiration from iconic 80s artists such as Prince, Shabba Ranks, Michael Jackson and Talking Heads.

It starts of with “If I Never See Your Face Again”, a refreshing track that kind of sets the tone of the whole album and lays down the fact that the album is completely different from Songs About Jane, and that Maroon 5 has reinvented itself in the 5 years.

The second song, “Makes Me Wonder”, also the first single off the album, is an alternative dance number that looks set to heat up the charts the same way that the singles that came off Songs About Jane, such as “She Will Be Loved” and “Sunday Morning”, did. The groove and the beat will make you feel like dancing the moment it kicks in. “Little Of Your Time”, the third track in the album, is a fast-paced, up-tempo dance track that carries off where “Makes Me Wonder” leaves you, which is then followed by “Wake Up Call”, before “Won’t Go Home Without You”. Faintly resembling songs from their earlier album, it slows things down a bit but it’s a very solid song on its own.

The rest of the album is a mixture of dance-y tunes and lovely ballads. In particular, UrbanWire enjoyed track 9, “Not Falling Apart”, a song that takes getting used to and repeated listening before you really like it. It’s catchy, full of electronic groove and will surely get you off the chair you’re sitting on and jive to the beat. Track 11, “Better than We Break”, is a slow-paced ballad that also impressed this reviewer with its lyrics that brings forth a melancholic mood, what with its lovelorn lyrics – “it’s not right, not okay, say the words that you say, maybe we’re better off this way” – and music accompaniment that is a good mix of keyboard, guitars and drums,

Maroon 5 looks set to enjoy more chart success with this release (“Makes Me Wonder” is currently No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100, jumping from No. 64 in just one week), and just like their debut Songs About Jane that won them a few Grammy Awards, should win more them more music awards.

For more information on Maroon 5, visit their official website.

Maroon 5’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long is available at all record stores from May 22.