by Ned RaggettIt's perhaps appropriate that For Against's reunion album -- featuring the return of original guitarist Harry Dingman III -- features a cover of another band whose own recent revival was of equally high quality, Section 25. That group's "Friendly Fires," one of its strongest earliest numbers, gets a fine makeover here, as would be expected from a group that always wore its Factory obsessions clearly on its collective sleeve. Otherwise, Shade Side Sunny Side is all For Against straight up, and it's a pleasure to hear a group that has constantly defied the odds still sound fresh and vibrant. Given how many of the band's inadvertent American descendants in the 21st century seemed to swiftly shed nervy atmospherics in favor of heartland clichés, hearing Jeffrey Runnings' measured singing on "Glamour" over a moody drum rumble (once again from stalwart Paul Engelhard) that shifts into a snarlingly beautiful verse/chorus is downright refreshing. Far from returning to the days of December and earlier, this is very much a For Against of now rather than of then, the sweet melancholia of the past turned both more haunted and more angry, with a near-constant theme being betrayal and loss -- not new territory for the band, but more prominent here than in a long while. Even calmer songs like "Why Are You So Angry?" seem that much more saddened, Runnings' laments about time's passages and the attendant changes all the more sharp, while slow burners like "Game Over," with Dingman's squalls of feedback transforming a quieter song at the start into a monster, bristle with intensity. Runnings' seemingly deathless voice retains its light, clear quality, as all the group's albums have always shown, but matched again with Dingman's powerful playing, it just seems all that much more right.