By Ekaterina Marenkov (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: February 18, 2015
Last month Fall Out Boy released their sixth studio album, American Beauty / American Psycho. Since their return from hiatus two years ago, Fall Out Boy have been releasing music that’s out of touch with their grungy, emo-kid roots. They have instead gone for more of a jock-jam genre, which makes it great for an empowering work out at the gym, but leaves you nostalgic for what they used to be.
One of the great things about American Beauty / American Psycho is that the songs are similar in theme and composition, apart from the title track. This album is significantly more vulnerable than the rest because the band is taking a risk and evolving their genre, trying to find their footing again in the musical world after such a long break. That risk sets this album apart from the previous five — in both a negative and positive way.
The one negative aspect about this album is that it’s not the old Fall Out Boy everyone remembers from middle school. Gone are the days of sentence-long titles and sick guitar riffs. When it comes time for the chorus, the guitar melody gets lost in the midst of all the other noise. It’s also important to note that, for many of the songs, the drums are switched out for electronic sounding beats which somehow make the music feel less authentic.
I probably should have seen all these little changes coming because the evolution of Fall Out Boy from punk to pop has been evident since as early as their third album, Infinity on High (2007), which released tracks much brighter in theme than their earlier albums.
Some things don’t change though. Patrick Stump’s vocals shine through just like they did in 2001, marking Fall Out Boy’s unique style that makes the album worth listening to. Overall, I would have to say the band did a noteworthy job with this fresh album.
