Fall Out Boy
American Beauty/American Psycho
(Island – DCD2)
Fall Out Boy has morphed from the emo/pop-punk scene of the early 2000s into a full fledged pop-rock act that can dominate the Top 40 charts. After a three-year hiatus, the group returned in 2013 with the bold album Save Rock and Roll, which solidified their place as a fixture in pop music. The group fully embraces change and is not afraid to allow their sound to evolve, which has kept them in the public eye.
As a follow up to Save Rock and Roll, the group released the single “Centuries” a year and a half later. According to an interview with Rolling Stone, lead singer Patrick Stump claims that they released the song before having written the album that it would appear on, creating a tight deadline for them to release a new record. Four months after the release of “Centuries,” we were given the full-length American Beauty/American Psycho, and the result is a record that sounds like it was written in the hours of an impending deadline.
Cohesive is the last word possible to describe this album. No two songs sound alike; influences are drawn from 70’s punk on the title track “American Beauty/American Psycho,” “Uma Thurman” prominently samples the theme song from “The Munsters,” and “Centuries” samples Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” and sounds eerily similar to Maroon 5’s “Animals.” The record is chaotic and brimming with too many ideas, making it somewhat difficult to listen to in a sitting.
Despite the jarring qualities of the record, there are still some gems that serve the purpose of keeping guitars in pop music. “Centuries” sounds as if it belongs in an arena with thousands of fans screaming along with the lyrics, and “Favorite Record” is an upbeat and whimsical track that gets your feet moving. American Beauty/American Psycho is far from Fall Out Boy’s best work, and comments on society far less than the title would leave you to believe.
