After ending their four year long hiatus in 2013 with “Save Rock and Roll,” the members of Fall Out Boy haven’t stopped working. With the release of “Centuries” on Sept. 9, fans of Fall Out Boy have been anticipating more new music. In late November, their wishes were granted.
On Nov. 24, Fall Out Boy announced that their new album, “American Beauty/American Psycho,” would be released in the US on Jan. 20. The title track, premiered on that day, was released on Dec. 15. As a part of the iTunes pre-order deal, “The Kids Aren’t Alright” was also released as a promotional single on Dec. 15.
Although not even half of the songs are released, it’s clear that this album will sound very different from all of their others. Once “Centuries” was released, it was easy to see.
Debuting at number one on iTunes, “Irresistible” begins with a chorus of horns before the vocals of Patrick Stump join in. Although more is going on in the background, it’s slightly remnant of some of the music on their third studio album, “Infinity on High.”
As usual, Fall Out Boys lyrics are in top form on “American Beauty/American Psycho,” but the downfall has got to be the instrument portions of the song. Under the opening line, “She’s an American beauty,” the music is scratchy sounding. Throughout the song, the chorus specifically, the music seems to clash before an abrupt close.
“Immortals,” written for Disney’s “Big Hero 6,” might just be one of Fall Out Boys worst songs yet. Repetitively and annoyingly, “We could be immortals” is sung over and over during the end of the chorus. Compared to other Fall Out Boy lyrics, these are slightly lacking. After listening to it multiple times, the only thing that stands out is the repetitive chorus and the odd music during it that doesn’t seem to fit.
The best song out of the five that are currently available by far, “The Kids Aren’t Alright,” starts off calmly with a simple drum beat and whistling. About a minute into the song, it picks up and continues to show off their lyrical abilities. If you’re going into this album never having heard a Fall Out Boy or Patrick Stump song before, this one easily shows off Stumps vocal range.
From what the five already released songs show, it’s incredibly difficult to tell what the rest of the album will hold. Either way, Fall Out Boy has too many incredibly devoted fans, willing to threaten anyone who voices their dislike of the album over the internet, to not be successful.
Listed as No. 8 on the 30 most anticipated albums of 2015 by Billboard, the 11 track sixth studio album is set to release on Tuesday Jan. 20.
