Fall Out Boy's Darkness An Alluring Spectacle

Listening to Fall Out Boy's collective body of work isn't merely a brief chunk of time hunkered down with new music. It's a trip into a series of captivating dream worlds. In fact "Dance Dance" is the closest the band has really come to a straightforward pop rock ditty. I've found it best to focus on the collective spark among the four rather trying to get to intimate with the lyrics, as literate as they often are. You've got one camp pinning its loyalties to Patrick Stump's angst riddled thoughts while the other gets stunned by how the arrangements seem to grow higher by the second. "Thanks For The Mmrs" was pretty damned thrilling due to the through the looking glass infectiousness that coursed through its veins. The dudes offered you a ride on their jet ski and you couldn't help but say yes. There was that hint of a sinister side but that only fueled the curiosity factor. Here in 2013, Fall Out Boy has returned from their three-year hiatus with "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark", which deserves to be an early front-runner for best title for a song in any genre. Whatever hooch is their hard stuff of choice they need to keep imbibing that. As in efforts past the lyrics zero in on relationship drama. Can't take my ears off of: "A constellation of tears on your lashes. Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes." Okay Pat, maybe not so much hooch for you. Your intense stare is starting to not only make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up but I swear they've sprouted mini parachutes so they'll have something to help aid in a safe landing once they hit the ground. Pat's certainly got the ability to haunt with this voice but it's an undiluted cut the crap sound. There's no raspiness to block the raw magic. Truth be the told this is a beautifully silly number. The chorus merits one shaking one's midriff in a guilty pleasure style, shades pulled, veneer of adult respectability thrown to the breeze. Andy Hurley tosses in a thick beat behind the kit. Pete Wentz, the lyrical brains behind the rock moxie enthralls on bass. I'd say this effort has a little bit of hard rock/metal camp without any distracting attention being lofted at what the band looks like or whether or not any of them cuts the lady's man figure. Take a few listens to "I'm on fire!!" as it's uttered here. If you don't have at least some semblance of a goofy grin on your face then you, sir, have something not quite right in your cranium. Pace wise things the band takes the time to savor the twisted landscape. "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" was a uninhibited carnival with Pat acting as possessed sideshow barker. There was certainly a massive backwards journey through time at its core. That song teased you with the promise of going into fourth gear at any moment until, in short order, it lived up to that promise. "Songs" stomps along with the kind of measured potency that's appropriate for a time when a lot of Americans are hesitant about learning when or where the next shoe will drop but for the sake of getting some sort of answer they push forward. It's win-win when you mix fun in a bombast blender with fright factor. The forthcoming "Save Rock and Roll" promises to be a gas if this set is top heavy with strangely endearing creations like this.