Album Review: Fall Out Boy - Save Rock and Roll
- Written by Danielle Gibson
After a four year hiatus Fall Out Boy are back with their fifth studio album Save Rock and Roll. It’s an album for thrashing around and getting your feelings out (perhaps what bassist Pete Wentz needed after his divorce to Ashlee Simpson back in 2011). Since we last saw FOB there doesn’t seem to be much of a progression with Save Rock and Roll. Although the sound has changed you can still hear the pre-hiatus FOB in there, they have delved more into the pop/rock anthems whilst mixing with other genres and have created an album that is full of rebellious, genre-blurring songs.
To start us of we have ‘The Phoenix’ which the title explains it all really. The guys (like the mythical creature) have burned away their past and are coming back with something fresh and new, at least that is what they would have you believe. It’s loud orchestral music is blaring at you from the beginning like the climatic action point in a film with vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump coming in with his typical high pitched singing letting you know, that although FOB have “changed”, you still know it’s them.
‘My Song Knows What You Did In The Dark (Light ‘Em Up)’ first appeared back in February and when we all first heard it you could tell that this album was going to be a change to the usual FOB sound. It’s catchy and after the initial listen you have Stump’s screeching “We’re on Fire” (emphasis on the fire) stuck in your head.
‘Alone Together’ is a mix between modern pop and R&B whereas ‘Miss Missing You’ is a lively keyboard pop anthem. Both are different in their own right but they are notably the weak points to this album. ‘Young Volcanoes’ is for all the young people out there. Like the ever grating term "YOLO" and songs like ‘We Are Young’ FOB have jumped on the bandwagon singing foot-stomping anthems about being young and wild.
So let’s get to the point where we have an odd mix of big names that are crow barred in to four of the songs. These are ‘Just One Yesterday’ featuring Foxes, ‘The Mighty Fall’ featuring Big Sean, ‘Rat a Tat’ featuring Courtney Love and ‘Save Rock and Roll’ featuring Elton John. Definitely some good choices but they appear to have been placed in the middle of a song which really, they don’t need to be. But that appears to be like most collaborations these days, songs that would be just as fine with the original artist only and not having a big named attached to it.
For the old school FOB fans, tread carefully. Yes you may still hear the old FOB in there but the sound has changed. They know what is selling currently and that is what we have here. It’s a definitive hit, but maybe not for the right reasons.
Save Rock and Roll is out now and available from amazon and iTunes.