It’s that time of the year again. What time? It’s time to talk about another Fall Out Boy album of course. It’s been a little while since I wrote my defense of Mania and some of the songs have definitely grown on me since then, but I still think it’s my least favorite album. What isn’t my least favorite album is American Beauty/American Psycho. Released in 2015 with only 11 songs on it, it wasn’t high on my radar for a long time. When starting my process of writing this review, I realized this album had more good songs than I thought it did. The trick? The lesser known songs on this album are very, very good. Let’s talk about it.
Irresistible is a loud opener to this album. It’s in your face and the trumpet sounds immediately wakes you. I’m much more partial to the version that includes Demi Lovato. After hearing the version with her, the original track feels a bit boring in comparison. Patrick’s vocals are incredible as they always are, but him singing a duet with another singer that’s got incredible vocals really elevates the song. Always been a fan of this particular song and until recently it was probably my favorite song on this album.
We then move on to the title track. American Beauty/American Psycho is probably more in your face than the first track. It’s loud, aggressive, and feels chaotic as all hell. That’s probably why I don’t like it as much. There’s parts of this song that really vibe with me, like how some parts almost remind me of a nursery rhyme and then the way Patrick pronounces Psycho is great as well. But where some songs are better than the sum of their parts, I feel like that is not the case with this song. Not a bad song, but as a FoB fan there are dozens of songs I would put on first.
And next up we have the reason why I discounted this album for such a long time. We entered Tom’s Diner. Now I will say, Centuries is a great track. But it was so incredibly overplayed and at a certain point it started to get on my nerves. This is somehow their most streamed song on Spotify and I think that’s a bit of a shame. It’s far from their best song in my opinion and I know that I’m slowly becoming that guy that only listens to the lesser known songs, but do cut me some slack. Sugar we’re going down is still probably my favorite track so I appreciate the popular songs too. It’s just that this particular one is good, but doesn’t feel like it should touch the upper echelon of their songs. It’s not even a top 3 on this album for me, if I’m honest.
After three loud and in your face tracks we slow down and this is where Fall Out Boy really shines in my opinion. When the music slows down, the quality goes up. I think that’s my big issue with Centuries, it’s too loud. The whistling in The Kids aren’t Alright calmly welcomes you into a song that gets bombastic but not loud. Does that make sense? I’m not a music critic, so I don’t really know how to put a lot of stuff into words, but it feels to me like bombastic and loud are two different things. Good song and it’s great to take a moment to calm down and enjoy the ride.
From there we pick up the pace again with a very fun song. Uma Thurman is a famous actress best known for playing in Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. The song features a sample from Munsters which is also by the director of those movies, Quintin Tarantinto. I don’t watch movies, I had to google this. The band apparently asked Uma for permission to use her name for the song which she was flattered by. She was also married to Ethan Hawke, who did a spoken word song on Fall Out Boy’s latest album. The more you know. Great song and if you want to treat yourself, have a look at the music video as well, it’s great fun.
And now we get to my favorite song on the album: Jet Pack Blues. It’s songs like these with a slower tempo that really let Patrick’s song shine. I think the man could probably sing in any genre and be fine at it. Did you ever love her, do you know? Is such a good line too. It’s a shame that this song has maybe 5% of the plays of a song like Centuries which is much less intimate and much more loud. But I suppose that’s what personal preference is all about, isn’t it? I’ve been listening to this one repeat for a while now, it’s definitely great.
Let’s speed things up a little bit, and go over Novocaine quickly. It’s a more experimental sounding song which reminds me a lot of Phoenix from the Save Rock and Roll album. I feel like the two are very similar, but Phoenix does the same things better. Continuing to be loud and in your face is the track Fourth of July. You and I were fireworks that went off too soon. This song is fine again. Not my favorite, but I don’t mind it either. It’s then also safe to say that Favorite record is not my favorite record. Probably the most forgettable track on the album and that explains why it’s got the least plays, although sitting at 47 million on your “worst” track is still a hell of an accomplishment.
We could be immortal, but not for long is a weird line at first until you start to think about it. The idea of burning brightly for only a short moment is a popular one and you can say the same thing about some relationships, toxic or otherwise. I’m not sure that is what Patrick is singing about here. Out of all the tracks on this album, this one I feel like leans the most in the direction that their next album, Mania, ended up going in. The more experimental sound that’s very hit or miss for me. I like this song, but only for a moment, and then it becomes too much.
And that leaves us with one underappreciated song left to talk about. Twin Skeleton’s (Hotel in NYC). This song is a reference to the cover art of their greatest hits album ‘believers never die’ which sees two skeletons embracing each other in a room. According to Pete Wentz this song is kind of a dark love song. The vision of having two skeletons together in a room in a hotel in New York city does also sort of fit with the vibe of being immortalized in the previous song, does it not? This is another song I only started listening to recently that I ended up quite enjoying.
And that’s the album reviewed. I don’t think this will ever make my top three as an album, but it does have more depth than I initially thought it did and I’m glad I took the time to properly listen to it in its entirety. But that is my opinion and I would love to hear what you think about it as well. Thanks for reading as always!
Opal Kaharis 