Fall Out Boy Show Madness, Yet There Is Method To It

Did you know Fall Out Boy were releasing a new record on Tuesday? If you did, you seem to be in the minority. The once ubiquitous punk band have but one mild radio hit in play right now in "I Don't Care" (#22 on the Top 40 this week). It's true, Folie A Deux lacks the immediate gratification that previous FOB albums gave, but this album signals Fall Out Boy's graduation from the standard pop-punk outift into a smarter, diverse band. Give it a chance, and Folie A Deux will reward time and again.

It takes the better part of the first song "Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes" for Fall Out Boy to get into a rhythm that can resonate with listeners (I bought in right around the chanting "Detox just to Retox!"). Unlike their previous work, Fall Out Boy seem less interested in making music that gets people singing along and more interested in making people shut up and listen to what they're trying to say. Whereas other albums featured a good blend between Pat Stump/Pete Wentz's lyrics and the tight music, this one's all about Pete Wentz's take on fame, fatherhood, and politics. On "I Don't Care" Stump defiantly declares "I don't care what you think as long as it's about me". Likewise "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on A Bad Bet" has the band singing "I will never end up like him / behind my back I already am". Make no mistake; there's nothing stupid about this record.

That said, the emphasis on substance over spectacle makes it a more difficult listen. With no herpes-esque infectious hooks to force listeners to come back, individual tracks on the album are far less memorable. Lil Wayne helps keep things fun on "Tiffany Blews", and "The (Shipped) Gold Standard" stands out as a surprise favorite amongst the hit-and-miss later tracks. There's nothing wrong musically here, it's just not what listeners or radio programmers have come to expect from the guys who wrote "Dance, Dance".

Folie A Deux is already drawing comparisons to modern punk classics American Idiot and The Black Parade. While this record may match those in sheer ambition and scope, Fall Out Boy come up short here in regards to making something I can imagine going back to years from now when I want something representative of the rest of their career. All in all I see it more as an equivalent to Magical Mystery Tour, with a lot of great ideas and great passion in the music, but trying too hard to say something and forgetting that it's supposed to be musically pleasing too.

Final Score: 7/10
Fall Out Boy - The (Shipped) Gold Standard
Fall Out Boy - Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes
Buy Folie A Deux on iTunes today