Seen as this album has occupied my C.D player for most of the time since it’s release in February, I thought I’d have a go at writing about why I love it so damn much!

Well to start with, I absoloutely love Fall Out Boy, and think their three previous albums (Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, Take This To Your Grave and From Under The Cork Tree) are all fantastic. It won’t come as a surprise that I was extremely excited for the release of Infinity On High, and bought it the day it came out. It then went straight into my C.D player, all the songs were ripped onto my laptop, and most of them bluetoothed to my phone.

If I’m honest, after listening to the album a first few times, I wasn’t overly impressed. I of course liked it, but it wasn’t as amazing as I’d geared myself up for it to be. Half the problem was probably that I was expecting something so spectacular that anything below perfect wasn’t going to be up to scratch! However, I gave the album a chance, and came to know and love is as much as I do the other Fall Out Boy albums.

I think that out of the four albums, this is the one that is least like the other three. Fall out Boy still regain their typical style of lyrics and music, but the album has a different edge to it. When compared to their first album (Evening Out With Your Girlfriend) it’s clear to see how far they’ve come. This album sounds so much more advanced and professional. The general quality of the music is completely different (in a good way) but they still sound like the same Fall Out Boy their fans know and love.

THE BAND

Pete Wentz-Lyricist/Bassist
Patrick Stump-Guitarist/Vocalist
Andrew Hurley-Drummer
Joe Trohman-Guitarist

TRACK LISTING

1.Thriller
2.The Take Over, The Breaks Over
3.This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arm Race
4.I’m Like A Lawyer The Way I’m Always Trying To Get You Off (Me And You)
5.Hum Hallelujah
6.Golden
7.Thnks Fr Th Mmrs
8.Don’t You Know Who You Think I Am?
9.The (After) Life Of The Party
10.Carpel Tunnel Of Love
11.Bang The Doldrums
12.Fame>Infamy
13.You’re Crashing, But You’re No Wave
14.I’ve Got All This Ringing In My Ears, But None On My Fingers
15. G.I.N.A.S.F.S (bonus track)

I’m going to briefly talk about each track, and give my own personal opinion on them.

THRILLER

The first few times I listened to the album, I had a tendency to skip this first track as I thought it was a bit boring and a bad track to start the album with. When I decided to stop skipping it and actually give it a good listen, I changed my mind and it became one of my favourite tracks on the album. The song is about having ‘made it big’ when some people didn’t believe in them. The song starts with the line ‘Yeah, what you critics said would never happen. We dedicate this album to anybody, people said couldn’t make it.’ Despite what I first thought, I then decided this was a very appropriate song to start their fourth album with, as they are now such a popular band who have done so well, despite what some people thought when they first came out. Jay Z also features in this song, which I think adds an unexpected but welcome touch. The chorus of the song is quite catchy once you’ve listened to it a few times, and one that sticks around in your head for a while. It’s not a particularly upbeat song, and probably not one for dancing to (depending how you dance?!) but a nice one to have on as background noise whilst you’re doing something else.

THE TAKE OVER, THE BREAKS OVER

I love the intro to this song, it’s got a good catchy beat to it, which makes you instantly want to keep listening. In several parts of the song the tune goes quite high, and I love Patrick Stump’s voice in these parts. I think the lyrics are pretty typical of FOB, and slightly strange (e.g Wouldn’t you rather be a widow, than a divorcee?). They’ve recently released this song on single, and I’ll be surprised if it’s not hugely popular. The verses have some of the trademark genius lyrics that FOB are renowned for, with a more melodic chorus which shows off Patrick’s amazing voice to its full potential. An all round good song.

THIS AIN’T A SCENE, IT’S AN ARM RACE

As this song had already been brought out when the album was released I already knew it really well. I still like the song a lot, but I personally think it was really overplayed when it was at its most popular, so the novelty had kind of worn off. Having said that, I think the song will always remain one of my favourites-as long as I don’t listen to it too much! It’s a song that has you instantly singing along, and it’s one of those songs that always welcome when it comes on the jukebox in a pub. My favourite parts of the song are the background vocals on the chorus, and the section after the second chorus when there is some great guitar playing accompanied with Patrick’s vocals.

I’M LIKE A LAWYER……….

I think this song has quite a ‘pop’ feel to it, the chorus reminds me of a typical pop boy band! I do love it though, the lyrics are very sweet (but again the chorus sounds a bit like something Boyzone would sing!) It’s quite a slow moving song, but still has that upbeat feel to it that most FOB songs do. Sorry to mention Patrick’s voice AGAIN, but as usual, this song really does show off how amazingly he can sing. In parts, his voice is harmonised perfectly with the other members voices too.

HUM HALLELUJAH

This song is about bassist Pete’s suicide attempt, which took place in a car park (the lyrics make more sense if you know this.) If you know that, and listen to the words properly, then it’s a really sad song. Having said that, at first it doesn’t come across as a sad song at all and it has an upbeat feel to it. This is possibly my favourite song on the album (I’m not sure though, as I can’t pick just one favourite.) There is a part of the song which features choir singers singing ‘Hallelujah, hallelujah,, etc…’ It look me a while to work out why this sounded so familiar, but then I realised it’s been taken from the film ‘Shrek.’ It sounds perfect in the song and I think it was a really clever idea to put that in.

GOLDEN

This is my least favourite song on the album, but that’s definitely not to say I don’t like it! It’s a very slow and mellow song, and definitely not typical of FOB. Most of the music in the song is played on the piano, which I think is the main reason it sounds so unlike anything they’ve ever done before. From my experience, it takes a bit of time to grow on you, and even then it’s no where near as good as any other songs on the album. The main good thing I would say about it, is that they’ve tried something different and it makes a change to their usual style.

THNKS FR TH MMRS

Another contender for best song on the album! I was not in the least bit surprised when this song was released as a single, nor was I surprised at how popular it’s become. From the very start of this song it’s an extremely enjoyable listen. The opening of the song has an orchestral feel to it, and leads through to a driving chorus which has that ‘pop’ sound to it. The chorus also features the words ‘he tastes like you, only sweeter’ from the film ‘Closer.’ An instantly lovable song, with a funky sound, that you won’t be able to sit still to.

DON’T YOU KNOW WHO YOU THINK I AM?

I think this song sounds most like the songs on previous Fall Out Boy albums. I was personally very glad when I heard it, because although I love their new sound, and love how they’ve changed, my favourite FOB album is ‘From Under The Cork Tree.’ This song sounds to me, more like it belongs on that album, so I thought it was nice to have one song that sounds like their older stuff on this new album. The songs starts with a classic Fall Out Boy catchy beat, but then the guitar part comes in and steals it’s thunder (by no means do I mean this in a bad way.) The song regains the funky opening beat at certain points throughout, add this to the consistently brilliant guitar tune and you’ve got another enjoyable listen.

THE (AFTER) LIFE OF THE PARTY

This song doesn’t sound like anything else Fall Out Boy have done, in my opinion. I’d say it’s one of the poorer tracks on the album. Other than that, I don’t have much to say about it, I don’t dislike the song, but I wouldn’t go wild for it either. There are some nice vocals by Patrick, but the song doesn’t have that edge to it that most of them do.

CARPEL TUNNEL OF LOVE

In contrast to the previous song, Carpel Tunnel Of Love has all the features that a good FOB song is made of. A slightly dark and witty title, strong and memorable guitar parts, Patrick’s beautiful voice (here I go again) and weird yet wonderful lyrics. A typical Fall Out Boy song without being too predictable.

BANG THE DOLDRUMS

One of my favourite things about this song it probably the lyrics, some of my personal favourites being ‘I can’t commit to a thing, be I heart or hospital’ and ‘racing through the city, windows down, in the back of yellow checkered cars.’ Don’t ask why, these lines just appealed to me for some reason! The lyrics are teamed with an equally good, catchy and upbeat tune. One that gets stuck in your head easily that you can’t help singing to yourself all day after you’ve heard it.

FAME>INFAMY

This song instantly breaks in with the guitar, which has a ‘punk’ feel to it. The guitar mellows when the singing starts, but still retains a great sound and funky, upbeat tune. This song isn’t spectacular, but then again I can’t really think of anything bad to say about it. It’s a personal favourite of mine to listen to while driving, but in my opinion, it has to be on loud to fully appreciate it (not a bad thing.)

YOU’RE CRASHING, BUT YOUR NO WAVE

The title of this song immediately struck me as one I would expect from Fall Out Boy. I then listened to it and like the title, the song itself is one I would expect from them. As I said about ‘Don’t You Know Who You Think I Am?’ I was pleased to hear another song that reminded me of their old albums. Obviously, this is their new album (i.e. not meant to be the same as the old ones) but there’s no harm in having a couple of old school tracks on their for good measure.

I’VE GOT ALL THIS RINGING IN MY EARS, BUT NONE ON MY FINGERS

The title of this reminded me of their old songs, mainly due to it being so long! I thought this song was a good way to round off the album (unless you have the bonus track G.I.N.A.S.F.S.) The verses are punchy and have a good strong beat, which perfectly compliments the chorus which goes into a much more melodic sound (sung by the fantastic voice which is Patrick Stump of course.) This song has bits of it that are quite memorable and stick in your head, and sails effortlessly from a hard sound into a much softer one, and back again.

G.I.N.A.S.F.S

G.I.N.A.S.F.S (which stands for Gay Is Not A Synonym For Shitty) is a bonus track, and a bonus it certainly is! A fast moving song, with some catchy lyrics, and a beat that’ll at least have you tapping along to it.

I think the songs have been put together in a good order, with any slightly slower songs followed by a much more upbeat one to balance it out well. I’ve listened to this album god knows how many times, and not got bored of it at all. If anything, I like it more than ever. I would definitely recommend giving this album a chance if you don’t enjoy it much at first. It certainly took me a few listens to fully appreciate it.

I think most people who have enjoyed previous Fall Out Boy albums and are already fans of theirs will definitely enjoy this album. My personal advice to people who haven’t heard much Fall Out Boy before would be to start with an earlier album, probably ‘Take This To Your Grave’ before listening to this one properly. I think the album would be enjoyed a lot more by people who are already FOB fans.

Something which I found weird about the album was the cover picture! It has on it a very strange animal ( kind of a sheep with wings??!) with a night sky and a moon in the background. It looks rather like the cover of a child’s book.

The C.D retails at around £8, depending where you buy. I say, definitely worth buying and I highly recommend it, especially if you’re already a Fall Out Boy fan.