Review Summary: Watch out! Radiocative man.
For what it’s worth Fall Out Boy are a relatively original band when compared to their genre contemporaries, a year ago they released an album that took their pop-punk sound to its limits incorporating numerous elements of pop music, yet retaining certain traits of their origins. To many, this was the biggest downside to Infinity on High, it was a solid pop album that suffered from a case of punk nostalgia (Pete Wentz attempting screaming being the prime example).
Folie a Deux is undoubtedly the final stage of their evolution from blink-182 inspired pop-punk to pop-rock superstars. This is rather evident throughout the album, whether it’s the piano driven ballad “What a Catch, Donnie” the anthemic lead single “I Don’t Care” or the punkish opener “Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes”. The entire album is made up of numerous hooks that are both memorable and accessible, which is essential for this album’s success. The most prominent element of Fall Out Boy’s music has always been Patrick Stump and once again he doesn’t disappoint giving a performance that puts the majority of his rival pop singers to shame, pushing his voice to its limits whilst maintaining consistency throughout the album.
But to put all the emphasis on Stump would be a grave injustice, the rest of the band have managed to up their game and the end result is quite impressive. Andy Hurley’s drumming whilst relatively basic in terms of technique is expertly placed throughout the album giving many of the songs a certain feeling of dance-ability. Joe Trohman and Patrick Stump’s guitar work is similarly simple but so well constructed, as far as hooks go, that they elicit a certain warm feeling from the listener ensnaring the listener in a sea of catchiness.
Perhaps the most impressive improvement in the musical aspect of the band is Pete Wentz, no longer content with playing poster boy while his band mates construct songs behind him, he has taken a more dominant role in the band’s rhythm section. The bass lines aren’t much to write home about but as with most pop music the individual performances are often overlooked when they come together into an interesting final product, which they definitely do here.
Much like Infinity on High; the production on the album is exceptional, whether it’s the well placed guest and/or backing vocals (What a Catch, Donnie) or the use of strings and horn sections (Coffee’s For Closers). The entire album is incredibly crisp. The vocals whilst dominant aren’t over blown, the instruments are discernible and the overall performance is well-balanced. The album does crossover into many genres of popular music whether it’s the slight hip-hop sounding intro to “Tiffany Blews” or rockfish elements of “27”, it really is just well put together.
Yet despite all of these achievements there are a few areas that seem slightly out of place. Lil Wayne’s cameo in “Tiffany Blews” whilst interesting is somewhat pointless, he doesn’t make use of his rapping abilities and as such his auto-tuned performance could have been done by the band themselves. Similarly Pharell Williams guest spot at the end of “W.A.M.S.” doesn’t add much to the song aside from length. The only other downside it seems is that despite the band’s rather varied style throughout the album is that for all the variance it’s still a pop album and because of this the songs do still have a very similar sound which may be a bit taxing on the listener. Aside from these the band has produced a very strong and consistent album.
Bonus Tracks:
The special edition CD contains some rather interesting material whether it’s the remixes of I Don’t Care and America’s Suitehearts both of which just add to the number of danceable songs on the album. The remixes are somewhat impressive and are just as solid as their regular counterparts.This edition also contains two acoustic tracks, America’s Suithearts and What A Catch, Donnie are both featured, while they do little to differ themselves from the album’s standard versions hearing Stump’s without the electric distortion behind it is a treat for fans of his vocal style, the downside to What A Catch, Donnie is that it lacks the guest vocals.
Also featured on the special edition are the B-side Pavlove and the band’s Beat It cover. Pavlove is definitely the band’s best showing as a pop-punk band sounding much like their earlier work with the added bonus of a more impressive production job. The Beat It cover is slightly lacking, being that it doesn’t provide much to differentiate itself from Michael Jackson’s original aside from being slightly heavier then Jackson’s and Stump’s Vocals having a different sound to them. All in all the bonus tracks are worth the extra money if you’re a diehard fan or if you have a soft spot for dance floor remixes, but they don’t really change the experience one get’s from the standard edition album.
