Have I been too harsh on Mania? I’ve been a fan of Fall Out Boy for a very long time, getting – admittedly casually – into their music around the time that Infinity on High came out. That’s already 14 years ago, I was 17 back then. From that point on I listened to their music regularly, enjoying the albums that came after as well as some of the songs that came before. Mainly the classics like Dance, Dance and Sugar We’re Goin Down. I like Folie à Deux now for what it is, but wasn’t into it when it was released. I did however, quite enjoy both Save Rock and Roll and American Beauty/American Psycho. I kind of fell out of their music for a while, mainly listening to Jpop and Jrock for a good while, before falling in love with the Pop Punk genre again in the late 2010s. This is right around the time when their album Mania was released. I listened to it, didn’t like it at all, and spent years writing it off as a bad album. This had me worried when their 2023 album was released, but that one I vibed with immediately. So now that almost 6 years have passed since Mania, let’s see if Mania really deserves the hate I – and many others – gave it.
This is my second review of a Fall Out Boy album. If you’re interested in my opinion on So Much (for) Stardust you can find it here. Let’s move to Mania. First song on the album is Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea. It reminds me a little bit of their song Phoenix, but only of the parts of that song that I don’t like. Patrick’s voice is stellar as it always is, but that’s not the problem with this album. These guys are incredibly talented and always have been. This song gets decent when it quiets down, but when it’s bombastic it just sounds… bad? It’s hard for me to put into words, I don’t want to be too negative because art isn’t for everyone, but when the song gets loud I feel irritated by it. It’s not a pleasant sound at least. I give Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea a failing grade.
Let’s move on to the second song, The Last Of The Real Ones, which is the song on this album that has the most plays on Spotify, more than doubling the other songs. Right off the bat I like the piano in the background. But it has some of the same issues that Stay Frosty had. The music feels messy at times. This was quite the experimental album for Fall Out Boy and I think that in their enthusiasm they went a bit overboard with some of these songs. This song is far from terrible, but when I compare it to their other work it doesn’t hold up. I like some of the lyrics.
“I am a collapsing star with tunnel vision, but only for you” has nice poetry to it. But to be perfectly blunt, this song just barely passes.
Alright, I started off this post by saying I was going to defend this album, so let’s get to that point of the review. HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON’T (the title is capitalized on Spotify like this, so I think that’s on purpose, don’t ask me why) is good. It’s bombastic but not in a grating way like Stay Frosty is. Patrick’s “nananana” is a pleasant sing along moment and although I mainly listen to music on my phone, with headphones in or at my PC without the video on, I would be remiss not to mention the gorgeous music video for this song. Check it out if you haven’t, it’s hauntingly beautiful.
Speaking of good music videos, let’s move on to Wilson (Expensive Mistakes). Have you ever wanted to own your very own Fall out boy? Well now’s your chance, you even get a free plastic hand included. Lucky you. The music video for this one is shot like an infomercial which is fun. The song itself is alright? It doesn’t blow me away but I don’t mind it either. It does have the line “I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color,” which I have to admit goes hard. Not much to say about Wilson, I’ll put it on from time to time and it gets a passing grade.
If you a church, I’d get on my knees. Confess my love, I know where to be. My sanctuary, you’re holy to me. Church is cool. Conceptually. The choir in the background is great, the way Patrick yells pain. I love that when Patrick sings “If death is the last appointment then we’re all sitting in the waiting room.” a lady in the background goes. “Mr. Stump.” to signal it’s his turn. Is this a song I can jam out to every day? Probably not. Just like Wilson, it gets a passing grade but doesn’t excite me.
Are you still with me? I perfectly understand if you’re not, I’m aware I’m primarily writing this one for myself. If you are still with me, you’ve earned my thanks. We’re at the halfway point of the album and the best is yet to come. Let’s speed things up a little bit, as I don’t feel particularly strongly about some of the upcoming songs. I like Heaven’s Gate. It’s a nice and slower song that’s well sung and the instrumentals are a great accompaniment to Patrick’s soulfull voice. Very decent song. Champion is in the same boat. It’s a perfectly serviceable song that fills up the album nicely but doesn’t amaze me. I don’t think Sunshine Riptide is a bad song, but I don’t remember the last time I chose to put it on. It just isn’t for me. There we go, I can be concise when I want to be, we did three songs in quick succession. Now let’s slow down a little bit again. There’s two songs left and I have opinions.
I like the first minute of Young and a Menace. The little “oops, I did it again” reference is cute and Patrick’s quieter voice is just as pleasant as his bombastic or soulful singing in other songs of this album. And then the dubstep sets in and I want to set my headphones on fire. This song has aged incredibly poorly. I do not recommend it at all. That’s a shame, because parts of the song are really well done but then you get to the chorus and you want to slam your head into a wall. I’m sorry Fall Out Boy, I love you, you’re my favorite western band by a large lead, but I personally find this song terrible.
But you know what they say, save the best for last. There’s one song on this album I kept listening to, even after I wrote the album off as terrible. Bishops Knife Trick is great.. I feel like this song is an accompaniment to “The Last Of The Real Ones” although I am no music expert so what do I know. It’s just much better and less grating to the ears. The way Patrick enunciates some of the words in this song just resonates with me. The clicking sounds when he sings “eternal heatstroke” is like ASMR to me, even though I don’t generally like ASMR. This song is good. It’s still definitely far from timeless, it follows the rest of this more experimental album into the realm of “remnant of it’s time,” but in a fun look back kind of way.
And that’s all songs reviewed, let me give a quick recap for you.
Great: Hold me tight or don’t, Bishop’s Knife Trick.
Decent: Wilson, Church, Heaven’s Gate, The Last Of The Real Ones
Uninteresting: Sunshine Riptide, Champion
Terrible: Young and a Menace, Stay Frosty Milk Tea
This isn’t as negative of a list as I expected going into writing this post, but it still shows why it’s one of the albums I spent less time with. There’s some good songs on here and more importantly there are some great ideas on this album. I don’t hate when bands go in a different direction. I like Linkin Park’s later stuff, I like Green Day’s American Idiot and I really started vibing with Paramore’s 2023 album that is very different from their early stuff. For that reason I respect Mania a lot. Patrick’s voice is incredible and fits into all sorts of styles, so it only makes sense that they experiment with their sound. Having said that, I still find Mania to be one of their weaker albums. I hope I didn’t bore you too much but this is an extra upload so at least it doesn’t take the spot of anything else. I’ll likely review the older albums at some point as well. It’s good practice for me to see what I like and dislike about songs, so perhaps I can learn something. More importantly though, it’s a good excuse for me to listen to Fall Out Boy’s entire discography. Thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 