After five years in the pop wilderness, the 'biggest boyband in the world' are back and this time it's a surprise they haven't changed their names to Backstreet Men, although I guess that would sound a little bit dodgy...

However, it's clear right from the opening song and lead single Incomplete that this is a new, mature sound for the Boys, and that can only be welcome.

They never really were quite as convincingly funky as Justin Timberlake and N*Sync, even with the strange robot dances, so this new AOR approach works fits them pretty well. Incomplete, with its pianos and dramatic orchestration might have even confused some Coldplay fans when they first heard it, and possibly even scared them when they liked it and found out who it was...

Just Want You To Know almost sounds like a particularly soppy Bon Jovi ballad with its anthemic chorus, guitars and keyboards. When you can't actually see the Boys doing their trademark overwrought arm-waving whilst singing it's even possible at times to forget who it is.

Weird World is written by John Ondrasik from Five For Fighting (of Superman fame) and therefore continues the theme of American AOR songs in the mould of his own band, Counting Crows and Train. If you couldn't imagine the Backstreet Boys singing Drops of Jupiter before, it's certainly very conceivable now.

Pop guru Billy Mann provides Poster Girl, which is more much like traditional Backstreet fare, which will provide solace for any fans who aren't down with the whole 'mature' thing. However, it's hard to see how any fan wouldn't like Lose It All, which does that that new sound, but is hugely infectious and still as poppy as anything they have done before.

Whenever a major band undergoes even a slight change in sound or image they are running the risk of alienating their fans, but it really is difficult to see that any Backstreet Boys fan wouldn't love this long-awaited return. The only worry is whether the rest of us might actually start to like them too...