A Best Second Release Nominee in the 2005 Awards
Relient K’s second album features their move from the indie Punk Rock of their first album to their now-classic Pop/Punk/Rock sound. Another new element is their great-sounding harmonies. Lyrically, this entire album is loaded with clichés and pop culture references of the day; and as usual, they blend humor and seriousness perfectly.
Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek begins with the aptly-titled “Kick Off”. It’s a very short and very humorous intro track.
Follows is fan favorite “Pressing On”. This is a great, catchy track that emphasizes moving beyond the past and, well, pressing on towards the future.
“Sadie Hawkins Dance”, another fan favorite, is a cute and quite funny track describing the day of the Sadie Hawkins Dance at school. The tradition of that particular dance is for the girls to ask the guys out, instead of the other way around; so during the song you follow Matt T. as he tries to get a girl to ask him to the dance. 
“Down In Flames” moves towards a more serious tone— it’s an intensely cynical, yet unfortunately true, criticism of today’s culture.
“Maybe It’s Maybeline” of course contains a parody of the (in)famous line from the makeup commercial. Again, this song has a rather cynical message; although it is a bit lighter than the previous track.
“Those Words Are Not Enough”, a song of surrender, is one of our favorites on the album.
“For The Moments I Feel Faint” is an absolutely beautiful song, and another one of our album favorites.
“Lion Wilson” is a kind of A Cappella intro to “Lion-O”, and that track in turn references the old Thundercats cartoon.
“What Have You Been Doing Lately?” describes meeting back up with old acquaintances whose lives have unfortunately spiraled downward. This song calls them out and forces them to think about what they’ve done.
“May The Horse Be With You” is very funny and entirely metaphorical.
“My Way Or The Highway…” is the most serious track on this album. It does start off with a few slightly humorous phrases; but the song’s message is intense and dead serious.
“The Rest Is Up To You”, after its very funny opening sentence, describes trying to help and support a friend who went through some tough times.
“Failure To Excommunicate” is an awesome song. It contains the hardest music of the album, and it’s the second most serious track. It shows how people with strong morals will always be outcast by those who don’t— but that no matter what, there is always hope.
And finally, Relient K closes out the CD with “Less Is More”, another beautiful song.
Attached afterwards, of course, is a hilarious hidden track, this one asking fans to bring Skittle candy and Combo snacks to the band at their next show… which started a tradition among a good percentage of their fans to actually do so!
Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek is a great CD, a great second release, and a Relient K classic. What else need we say?
Our rating for Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek: 5 Stars. 