This review was written by a long time friend and now first official Teal Cheese intern, Brandon Webb. There will be a lot more to come from him and he settles into the Teal Cheese family.
“Sell Out Boy”
I remember listening to Fall Out Boy when I was in high school and really thinking that they were a band that came out with music that was consistently pretty good.
Then…they released “Save Rock and Roll” which did not by any means do what the title implied.
And now, with “American Beauty/American Psycho”, their newest album, I really feel as if they are moving away from their original sound and toward what big corporate record labels want them to sound like. It’s okay to change and evolve as a band. Just do it on your own terms.
Their single “Centuries” is not so bad, but how many times have we heard virtually the same hook used in other songs?
Then in the track that shares the albums title, we hear lyrics like ” You take the full, full truth, then you pour some out and you can kill me, kill me or let God sort ‘em out.”
it just sounds too serious and contrived. This is definitely not the same band I remember growing up with. I always thought Fall Out Boy was one band that would stand out because, in my mind, they were consistent as a pop/punk band. Not every album was great, but they did come out with some great songs. With their last two albums, not so much. I hope they can redeem themselves and allow me to build up some faith with them again with ANY other album they decide to create.
-B.W.