After five long years, the boys are finally back! The much anticipated new album Never Gone from Backstreet Boys' Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, A.J. McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson, fail to dissappoint fans.

After all these years, many critics were questioning the group's longevity and their ability to maintain a fan base after such a long absence from the music scene. However, the numbers are in. The band peaked at number three on the Billboard charts, with Never Gone selling 290,946 albums in the first week alone. It seems like The Backstreet Boys are having a very welcoming homecoming.

Never Gone is filled with rock and pop ballads and mid-tempo tracks that veer away from their original sound of R'n'B, pop classics and love songs.

However, if you are still in search of the next "I Want It That Way," they do not disappoint. Many of the songs are in the same vein of serious lyrics and memorable melodies. In fact, the band features many introspective songs: "Lose It All," "Siberia," the title track "Never Gone," and "Weird World." These will meet the needs of the deepest thinker.

The songs that they have the most fun with are the heavily-harmonized "Poster Girl," the crazy mix of Motown and rock on "My Beautiful Woman," and the soaring "Climbing The Walls," which was rumored to have been slated for the "Spider Man 2" soundtrack.

The guys also brought back their old producer/writer, Max Martin produced "Siberia," and the delicious rock/pop sing-a-long "Just Want You To Know."

They also worked with many new writers like Five For Fighting, aka John Ondrasik, on "Weird World." "Never Gone," written by Kevin Richardson, Gary Baker and Steve Diamond, is a beautiful song dedicated to Kevin's father, Gerald, who died fighting cancer.

It is a touching song about loss, and I found myself in tears listening to it because my own grandfather passed away this summer. On the other end of the spectrum is one of the most romantic songs on the album, "Safest Place To Hide" on which miraculously all five men get lead vocals. (Yes, even Kevin!)

Never Gone is an album about emotion and thought. It is a testimony to BSB's ability to change with time and still stay true to their time-tested formula of quality music. It is a sound that has grown with the fans and can still be appreciated by the newer, younger audience.

They may have taken a few years off; Brian to raise a child, A.J. to work on his sobriety (two and a half years sober), Howie to raise lupus awareness, Nick to grow as a solo artist, and Kevin in helping to save the environment and act in Broadway's Chicago. But, Backstreet's back and they are still making musical magic. It is almost like they were never gone.