Fall Out Boy - 'From Under The Cork Tree' (Mercury) Released 23/05/05

With Green Day enjoying phenomenal crossover appeal and Blink 182 on indefinite hiatus, the punk-rock community is lacking in a leader for its legions of skater kids.  Looking to take the position is Chicago foursome Fall Out Boy, a band who has received positive acclaim after a sold-out UK tour earlier this year, and is now releasing their second record ‘From Under The Cork Tree’.

Let’s get this out of the way:  Fall Out Boy sound like the rest of their peers.  Patrick Stump has a ****ing annoying voice, sometimes bordering on whiney, regularly pain inducing and lacking in emotion – showcased by the OTT dramatics of ‘Get Busy Livin Or Get Busy Dyin’.  Musically, the tracks are bog-standard riffs that have been heard a thousand times – not that they’re not catchy or anything – so it’s not much to get excited about.  For an example, take your pick from ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’, ‘Dance, Dance’, or ‘A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More “Touch Me”’.

This band does stand out due to the lyrics of bassist Pete Wentz, which are often filled with a dark humour, such as 'Written on my wrist says do not open before Christmas’ (‘Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Couldn’t Get Sued’).  But let’s face it; anyone over sixteen is hardly going to see that as a saving grace when the music is so uninspiring – but the kids will still love them.