Fall Out Boy - Infinity On High

We all know and love Fall Out Boy, right?

Patrick's Stump's amazing vocal range along with Pete Wentz's thoughtfully composed lyrics kept us waiting for this album on the edge of our seats all 2006. That's until its unfortunate internet leak which forced the band to forward the release date.

However, IOH remains a hit among the fans.

Fall Out Boy return to us with a poppier sound with the occasional screams throughout some of the tracks. The intro to the first track Thriller with Jay-z came to the listeners as a shock, could it be a sigh that our Fall Out Boy have sold out and indulged in the world of bling and plastic pop celebrities nation?

The answer is yes and no. The music was fitted to suit the mainstream music's route but the spirit and passion are still the same, resembled in the lyrics (that made Wentz the new age poet) and Stump's genius arrangements.

Songs like The Carpal Tunnel Of Love and The Take Over, The Break's Over portray the evolution in Fall Out Boy's song composition inserting several diverse instruments such as a backing choir, pianos, horns, organs, trombone ... etc.

And on the vocals level, Patrick Stump excelled in reaching exquisite notes few can muster hitting.

The art work of the album itself as the example of the new Fall Out Boy : creative, unique and very much confusing (regarding the concept of the theme).

But the occasional slip-ups occur (as the usual non-spoken lyrics that Patrick makes up for with some of his own or with overly sung rhymes). The Carpal Tunnel Of Love does bring up some of the old band they were. Angst, sarcasm an plain old bitterness shine through the song's verse:

It was ice cream headaches and sweet avalanche
When the pearls in our shells got up to dance
You call me a bad tipper of the cradle
Tired yawns for fawns on hunter's lawns
We're the has-beens of husbands
Sharpening the knives of young wives
Take two years and call me when you're better
Take teardrops of mine, find yourself wetter...

Whilst Hum Hallelujah brings a smile on your face with the upbeat lyrics and similes, containing inserts of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah which is obvious like the fact that the sun rises in the morning.

But the song that clearly stands out of the rest (and not in a good way) is Golden, as if it was being sung by a completely different band. Somehow the words 'piano ballad' and 'Fall Out Boy' don't mix together in most people's minds. But it actually had very decent and beautiful lyrics; even they were tailored to fit a piano based song.

And like always, they have managed to blow us away. Even if the album had less meaning than the previous three (Including An Evening With Your Girlfriend) and less angst and scorn that Pete Wentz managed to portray throughout the songs in such explicitness. (Though some of the IOH tracks do have sexual implications e.g. : Thnks Fr Th Mmrs)

The jazz/blues inflicted conclusion of the record takes more of a Broadway tune at first with the piano intro, then erupts to a more Queen-y vibe with the guitars and Ba ba ba's and in the end an applauding audience with combined cheers along with a monotonic robotic voice say: Now Press Repeat, which uncovers cleverness and vanity at the same time.

Alas, I can say that you'll enjoy this album due to the variety of beats and the constant change of atmosphere. Songs sound so different, yet they are so compatible. The only thing the fans are afraid of is that the Fall Out Boy they grew to love are fading out under the spotlight, losing sincerity. But this album shows that there is still hope left for them after all.

And to another great piece of music we bow.

Fall Out Boy are:
Patrick Stump - Vocal, Rythm Guitar
Joe Trohman - Lead Guitar
Andy Hurley - Drums
Pete Wentz - Bass