It’s hard to believe that it hasn’t even been two years since Fall Out Boy announced their return from their three year long hiatus… This Monday sees the release of their sixth studio album ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ an album which provides an interesting take on just how pop Fall Out Boy are prepared to go.
The opening horns of ‘Irresistible’ should let you know exactly what you’re in for, as if you didn’t already know. This is on a different level to ‘Save Rock & Roll’ and it’s all the better for it. The first half of the album presents you with the obvious singles of the pack with the frontrunner coming in the form of ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ a song which sees Fall Out Boy at their song writing best. This’ll be the song the resonates most with the kids, it’s the kind of song Fall Out Boy do best… it’s bloody lovely is what it is and that note Stump hits towards the end? Incredible.
Lead single and title track ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ is annoyingly infectious while I’ve got no doubts that ‘Uma Thurman’ has been earmarked for single release too. It’s a song that’ll split the fan base quite a bit with it’s imposing brass sample and guitar riff taken from the television show The Munsters, it’ll be a song that’ll convince many that Fall Out Boy have finally jumped ship but it’ll also be a song that some will claim is Fall Out Boy at their finest. The beauty of an opinion eh?
What sets Fall Out Boy apart from a lot of other bands out there is the lyricism of Pete Wentz, there aren’t many other, if any bands out there of Fall Out Boy’s size who employ this writing style and more importantly make it work. It’s all especially evident in the latter half of the album where some of Wentz best lyrics come to the forefront. Take ‘Jet Pack Blues’ with the brilliant “She’s singing baby come home, in a melody of tears while the rhythm of the rain keeps time” or “I’ll spin for you like your favourite records used to” from the infectious “Favorite Record” and not to forget “You were my Versailles at night” from ‘Fourth of July’ it’s this sort of writing that you’ll see plastered all over Tumblr for the next few years. Pete Wentz as well as being stupidly good writer absolutely knows how to appeal to the bands demographic, it’s what has made them so successful and it’s what will carry on keeping them so successful.
The album isn’t without its flaws though ‘Novocaine’ could probably do with being a b-side, it never really gets going and when it threatens to go somewhere with the impressive pre-chorus note, the chorus falls flat and what could’ve been a genuine hit turns out to be a bit of a dud. The now overplayed ‘Centuries’ finds itself on the receiving end of the skip button more often than not too but that’s about where the bad points end, because everything else is actually really bloody good and with ‘Fourth of July’ Fall Out Boy have quite possibly written their best song post hiatus. This is potential UK No.1 material and it’s going to sound absolutely huge live.
‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ is another great effort from Fall Out Boy, this is the sound of a band truly comfortable with who they are. Yes, we all know it doesn’t sound the same as when they wrote your favourite albums all those years ago but bands change. Go in to this record without any preconceptions and you might find you actually enjoy it for what it is.