Fall Out Boy - 'Folie a Deux' (Mercury) Released 15/12/08

First things first, if you’re a Fall Out Boy fan you’re going to love this album. If you’re not a fan of FOB then you have to take your hat off to a band that is on top of their game regardless of how flimsy you consider their music to be.

‘Folie a Deux’ or ‘a madness shared by two’ is FOB’s fourth album and it is a record that catches a band right in their pomp. This is an album bristling with well constructed sing-alongs and choruses that remain lodged in your head for weeks. It is also an album where they’ve taken some of their own advice and not taken themselves too seriously.

Patrick Stump sings “nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy” in opener ‘Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes’ which incidentally is all they sang about in debut album ‘Take this to Your Grave’. Perhaps FOB have realised that the much maligned ‘emo’ scene is dying a death and that its time to adapt into giant rock stars before it’s too late. Aside from that the self-awareness they’ve also written a storming opener with the grandiose build up and chewing gum pop chorus.

‘America’s Sweethearts’ has single written all over it but it is the middle of the album where they up the ante and become really extravagant with the production. ‘(Coffees for Closers) has a proper stadium rock chorus and string finale. ‘What a Catch, Donnie’ finishes with a Beatles-esque sing-along with Patrick Stump and Panic at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie gently underpinning the closing minute with old FOB and Panic lyrics in the background. It is a slightly bizarre but utterly effective track which encapsulates what FOB have done right on ‘Folie a Deux’.
 
‘W.A.M.S’ is another straight pop-rock song which ends with a peculiar section of Stump vocals attempting to sound like a jazz singer. By the time you listen to the Panic-inspired '20 Dollar Nose Bleed’ it ends up sounding like a crazy mix of influences but one which oddly works. Yes it is madness but it will likely be shared by more than two and rightly so.