Fall Out Boy are an American Pop Punk band hailing from the suburbs of Chicago. Consisting of four members, the band have been going since 2002 and have in this time released three albums and an eight track mini-album. Currently residing on Island Records, their home since 2003 – ‘Infinity On High’ is the bands third album and saw a commercial release back in the February of 2007. Featuring fourteen tracks (15 including the UK Bonus Track), ‘Infinity On High’ is arguably Fall Out Boy’s finest album to date.
I have always had somewhat of a soft spot for Pop Punk, and as such the music of Fall Out Boy is perfect for my liking. It is fantastically fun pop music which is excellent to dance to, and with the exception of a few – the tracks on display on this album are meticulously well created and crafted. Opening with ‘Thriller’, the album instantly grabs you and garners your full undivided attention. A perfect opening anthem, ‘Thriller’ features a spoken intro and outro by the American rapper Jay-Z. In addition to this, the track was produced by Jay-Z and Babyface also; two of the finest faces of Hip-Hop and R&B accordingly. Although this is by no means the strongest track on the album, it is still a decent opening and when listening to the album for the first time it leaves you hotly anticipating what the band will have in store for you as the listening experience continues.
From ‘Thriller’, the band progress into the track ‘The Take Over, The Breaks Over’ which was chosen as the third single to be released from the album. With track number two the band continue to impress, and ‘The Take Over, The Breaks Over’ is without a doubt a fine track with a chorus of epic excellence. At this early stage in the album the best is yet to come however, and the first real moment of glory comes in next track ‘This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race’, the album’s lead single. When I first heard this track before the album was released, I wondered how any other track on the album could possibly compete – it’s perhaps one of my favourite Fall Out Boy tracks of all time and will no doubt put a smile on the face of anyone who has ever before enjoyed a song of theirs in the past. ‘This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race’ has everything that you could possibly ask for in a Fall Out Boy track – it’s fast, it’s fun, and best of all it’s fantastically catchy with a chorus which is bigger and better than you will ever have heard the band before. At a mere three tracks into a fifteen track album, you begin to feel that the band have perhaps peaked to soon, and therefore from here on in it could all be a downhill trek. Fortunately this is not to be, and as the album carries on the band continue to flourish.
For me, it is ‘Thnks Fr Th Mmrs’ which provides the album with its crowning glory. At the album’s centre point, ‘Thnks Fr Th Mmrs’ is probably one of my favourite tracks of all time, let alone my favourite by Fall Out Boy. There is just something about this one which captured my imagination right from the very first time I listened to it. Over the months, this has become my most played track by far and yet still I fail to tire of it and instead my love for the track continues to grow. Produced by Babyface the track is at no point tiresome, and despite the squeaky clean production possesses an unexplainable rawness about it. The guitars are excellent, the vocal harmonies verge upon perfection, and the drumbeats are colossally crushing. To summarise; ‘Thnks Fr Th Mmrs’ is without a shadow of a doubt a track which I would recommend to everybody out there.
When I think of the ‘Infinity On High’ album, one of the first tracks which will spring to mind every time is ‘Hum Hallelujah’. This is a track of which the lyrical content is reportedly about Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz attempted suicide whilst listening to Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. The track samples the aforementioned Leonard Cohen track in it’s four minute duration, and is a beautifully written piece of music which provides for a soothingly satisfying listening experience. It is unlike anything Fall Out Boy have ever attempted before and I commend the band for their efforts here as in my opinion they have pulled it off with a high degree of style and flair. It is always nice to see when bands attempt something a little bit different, and when they manage to pull it off as has been done here then the result is always a joy to behold.
Whilst ‘Hum Hallelujah’ is a prime example of Fall Out Boy trying out new things and pulling it off; trying things out can ultimately backfire which was the case with ‘Golden’. I have never been able to listen to this album track without feeling completely empty inside, free of the pleasure I usually enjoy when I listen to the music of Fall Out Boy. The track is a slow and unenjoyable effort in which the band meander their way through two and a half minutes of a poorly put together filler track. I literally have nothing positive to say about this track and feel that it need not have been included on the album as my belief is that this track detracts from the overall exceptional quality of the album.
A common theme amongst recording artists in recent years has been to include a ‘Bonus Track’ or two when releasing an album. A few years ago it was not uncommon that a band would release their album one month only to follow it up a couple of months later with a ‘Special Edition’ release which would generally include a couple of bonus tracks much to the frustration of those that bought the album on the day of release. Thankfully, bonus tracks tend to be included at launch now and this album was no different including that of ‘G.I.N.a.S.F.S’, which for all those interested is a synonym for ‘Gay is Not a Synonym for Shitty’. Whilst bonus tracks can at times come across as somewhat of an afterthought of which you’d perhaps rather have done without; ‘G.I.N.a.S.F.S’ certainly doesn’t come in to this category and is in fact a track just as good as many of the other album tracks present. It is a fun track which opens with a strong guitar riff, possesses a lethal chorus, and will have you singing along in no time. It is oddly perhaps another favourite of mine from the album and could I believe be released commercially as a successful single.
With all tracks other than one on the album having impressed me to varying degrees, I would have to say that all in all the ‘Infinity On High’ album from Fall Out Boy is an overwhelming success. There are a high number of stand out tracks here present, and they certainly provide in my opinion for Fall Out Boy’s finest album to date. Fall Out Boy’s ‘Infinity On High’ has been one of my favourite albums of 2007, and I for one can not wait for the band to haul themselves back in to the recording studio to provide us with album number four. If the band can improve upon what they have come up with here then I will be shocked as ‘Infinity On High’ truly is an amazing album which I feel I will certainly be continuing to play for some years to come. It is hard to listen to the music of Fall Out Boy without allowing for a smile to seep across your face, and whilst there will undoubtedly be those out there that will not find this album enjoyable – I myself found Fall Out Boy’s latest album offering extremely impressive and highly enjoyable.
Label: Island Records
Release Date: 5th February 2007
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
