Album of the week: Fall Out Boy are definitely off the emo track with "Mania"

Album "Mania" by Fall Out Boy, released on January 19, 2018.

Fall Out Boy's long-awaited new album has barely been released and is already shooting up the charts. The four ex-emo post-punkers have not reinvented pop music with "Mania". But they hit the nerve of the times by orienting themselves to what is currently hip and what makes their colleagues so successful at the moment. It works perfectly: pop music in the truest sense of the word, "popular" music.

The band

Bassist Pete Wentz and the two guitarists Patrick Stump and Joe Trohman came together in Chicago in 2001, drummer Andy Hurley joined them in 2003 - and then success struck: in 2005 they went double platinum, followed a year later by their first major US tour. After a three-year break, from 2010 to 2013, the band really took off again. Most recently, they made it to the top of the US charts with their album American Beauty / American Psycho (2015), reaching number 15 in Switzerland.

The new album

It's finally here! "Mania" was actually announced for last September, but apparently the producers Dave Sardi, Butch Walker, Illangelo, Jesse Shatkin and Neal Avron wanted to tinker with the sound a little longer, and you can tell - the album doesn't come across as spontaneous, but rather as a solid studio production, which isn't bad at all. The previously released track "Young And Menace" is more in the style of electronic dance music than the alternative rock groove typical of the band in the past. "Champion", also already released, turned out to be quite poppy and rocky. Some tracks are a little less catchy than earlier hits such as "The Phoenix" (2013) or "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (2013)."

Our verdict

Fall Out Boy have been through the post-punk guitar riff phase for a long time. With their latest album, the four also prefer to focus on current trends and stadium rock choruses reminiscent of colleagues like Panic at the Disco. Conclusion: The sound on the album is not what you would have expected - but it doesn't pass as independent either. The band looks too much to the left and to the right for that, orienting itself too much to current trends. But it also meets the taste of the times, which is not to say that this lively album isn't fun. Oh yes it is!

Play tips

In the video for "Wilson" they make fun of teleshopping programs. The sound is also very lively and upbeat.

On "Hold Me Tight", the synthesizers squeak and the reggaeton rhythms are joined by finger snapping. Major Lazer could have been the inspiration here. However, the video doesn't show the band in Puerto Rico or Jamaica, where the sound would be at home. Instead, it's the Mexican Day of the Dead.

The Nigerian reggae singer Burna Boy joins in on "Sunshine Riptide". What a contrast to the emo sound of the early Fall Out Boy days!

"Heaven's Gate" is based on the sound of Maroon 5. Well copied is better than badly invented, was probably the motto here.

The band about their album

The album itself revolves around the theme of humanity, announces Pete Wentz. He thinks a lot about neuroses. "I think that makes us human". Talking about fears and grief can bring people closer together. "It's about being an outsider, about being different from the masses - and about the mixed emotions that go with it."

"'Mania' is written with letters that keep diverging. That's the way my brain feels sometimes when I haven't slept," Pete Wentz continues. "It's exactly the same when you're on tour, because you don't sleep much then."

Fall Out Boy live

"Every track sounds different live than on the record - and at every show. But that's exciting and a good thing," says singer Patrick Stump. Incidentally, "Dance, Dance" is one of the songs that the frontman prefers to perform on stage, as he says: "It embodies what we are as a band and simply makes you want to dance".

The "Mania" tour starts next week in Los Angeles and will also be heading to Europe. However, there is no Swiss date yet.

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