FALL OUT BOY // "MANIA" - ALBUM REVIEW
FALL OUT BOY RETURNS TO MUSIC SCENE WITH BRAND NEW ALBUM 'MANIA' FOLLOWING THEIR 2015 ALBUM 'AMERICAN BEAUTY/AMERICAN PSYCHO'
FALL OUT BOY - "MANIA" RELEASED FRIDAY 19TH JANUARY 2018
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ (6/10)
Originating from Chicago's hardcore punk scene, Fall Out Boy formed in 2001 and after a few changes of drummers the lineup we see today have been together for over 15 years. Providing some of the stand out tunes for emo teens through the '00's it is hard to keep up to date with that fanbase when they are all grown up and having kids but this album is so eclectic in its feel and sound that it will be hard not to find at least one song you like but it is quite a mix of genres and there is no cohesive sound to the album. However, is that what they were trying to portray as it is titled "Mania"?
Who needs emotive lyrics when you have stadium riffs and an infectiously catchy chorus like the superb opening track Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea. This is an aggressive explosion of an opening track and its sound will take any FOB fan back to where their love of the band first started. There is no denying this is FOB at its best and greatest and definitely the stand out song of the album.
After that impressive opener, we are taken on a journey of musical styles including pop, dance, reggae and rap, each one moving in a different direction and away from the sound that we know and love, but that doesn’t mean that its bad. It's just different.
Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) is a great track that builds through the verses while the chorus explodes. I particularly like the line "I'll stop wearing back when they make a darker colour" which is a reference to the "Addams Family". It's one of the best songs lyrically and is one worth really listening to. Church on the other hand is very basic lyrically and uses the repetition of the line " if you were a church, I'd get on my knees" almost continuously. The use of a choir and an organ definitely gets across the religious/gospel feel to the song but the FOB sound is still there with Stump's recognisable voice belting out the song.
Overall this is not the album I expected from FOB to release. Mania was originally scheduled for a release on September 15, 2017, worldwide. However, on August 3, 2017, Patrick Stump announced that the record would be pushed back until January 19, 2018 "The album just really isn't ready, and it felt very rushed," Stump said on Twitter. "I'm never going to put a record out I genuinely don't believe is at least as strong or valid as the one that came before it and in order to do that we need a little bit more time to properly and carefully record solid performances." Because of this I was really hoping for an epic stadium filling album, but this is just so different and shows how much the band has changed over the years and their demographic has changed.
I look forward to listening to each song more and more and getting to understand what lies for FOB in the future.