Fall Out Boy's latest album, "Infinity On High," is exactly what you would expect: lots of shouting, a couple of standout moments hinting at genius, and enough pretentious song titles and lyrics to make you throw up in your mouth a little.
Seriously though, these track names are just stupid. I know it is considered "hip" these days to make titles vague and convoluted in order to feign intellectual depth, but I'm not buying it. Most of the tracks have titles of five words or more, including the first single, "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race." You've got to be kidding me. That is dumb.
Here is another: "I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off." Get it? Wink, wink. Isn't Fall Out Boy so clever?! Vomit.
Maybe one day they will realize it is easier to tell your friends about music you like if you can remember the title. If not, I will get to make fun of them again.
But that's enough punishment already because, although I find Fall Out Boy's music revolting in a number of ways, there are also several songs to which I'm completely addicted.
Both of the aforementioned songs with insane titles are actually pretty tolerable. They are not the best I have heard lately - not by far - but I still find them very catchy, and they've gotten enough plays to warrant mention.
There is something about the way lead singer Patrick Stump bellows out a line at the top of his lungs that I find incredible. Although I despised almost every song on Fall Out Boy's previous album, "From Under The Cork Tree," I still consider "Sugar We're Goin' Down" to be one of my favorite songs of all-time.
Granted, Fall Out Boy's stuff is mostly surface-level drivel, even with the trying-to-sound-deep lyrics, but if one of these songs happens to connect with you on a single phrase or perfectly toned shout, it can be impossible to stop listening.
The connection I speak of happened during the track "Hum Hallelujah." It is a song about a guy pissed off at the girl who used to be his girlfriend (nothing new, I know), but the way he describes it caught me. On one level he's upset, and on another he's being arrogant, trying to pretend he's tough and knowing he's not.
I was listening to this album while eating lunch, not really paying attention to it, but when the music goes crazy and Stump comes out of nowhere shouting, "I could write it better than you ever felt it," I knew I would love this song. The chorus is also the best of any track on the album: "A teenage vow in a parking lot / ‘Til tonight do us part / I sing the blues / And swallow them too." Is it sappy and kind of awful? Maybe so, but I'm hooked.
Many online reviewers have made statements that Fall Out Boy is one of those bands that can divide people into groups of haters and lovers like no other. I totally and completely disagree. Even if you are not drawn to any one song on the album, the collection itself is so consistently decent that I have a hard time believing anyone could completely hate this music.
That said, "Infinity On High" is definitely not a departure from Fall Out Boy's previous efforts, and if you didn't like them before, you probably won't like them now. Still, for me, the best moments in this album are when I'm surprised by a line that catches me from out of nowhere, and if you give Fall Out Boy a chance, it could happen to you. "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race" may be kind of annoying, but I still think it's fun to hear Stump shout the chorus to "I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off."
