OMG! NU FALLOUTBOYZ! OMG!!!

Fall Out Boy
"Infinity On High"
(Island Def Jam)

The big news on the interweb this weekend was that somebody leaked the new Fall Out Boy album on several p2p sites. Apparently, the band and their label is considering moving up the release date since at this point many of the kids who would've purchased the record have already heard it in its entirety. Personally, I think that the "leak" was an intended move to whet the appitites of all of Fall Out Boy's teenage fans because, let's face it, even if they downloaded it, they would still go to Best Buy to get this piece of shit.

I actually liked Fall Out Boy's "Take This to Your Grave" when it came out back in 2003 and I even spent three days following the band around their first Northwest tour for Halftime Magazine. It's also no secret that I consider this band to be a blatant sell out; not because they signed to a major, but rather because their videos, image and product placement is just so goddamn obvious it's almost ironically funny. Almost.

For their highly anticipated fourth album, "Infinity On High," the opening track, "Thriller," pretty much sets the stage for the rest of the record: the clean channel guitar picking is a rip off of Keepsake's "Violent Love," Jay-Z mumbles about something or another and the lyrics are about Livejournal and Absolutepunk and being Internet superstars. Fucking yawn.

None of the other songs sound remotely interesting until you get to "Golden" (this may be called "How Cruel" or at least that's how it's listed on Interpunk.com), a piano ballad complete with harmonies and a shining tribute to Elton John.

Right around this part of the album, I just started skipping around trying to find a listenable track, but alas, there were none.

As far as pop-punk bands go, Fall Out Boy was probably one of the best; their sardonic lyrics and hard-hitting sound goes well with the melodic properties of Patrick Stump's voice, however, it's obvious that signing to Jay-Z's Def Jam has made them slightly bloated, if not, the exact opposite of what they used to sound like. "Infinity On High" is overproduced, dull and just another excuse for kids to randomly quote inane lyrics in their Livejournals and MySpace headers.

I enjoy when a band -- especially of the pop-punk persuasion -- is able to break out of their shell and make a sonically challenging album (i.e. Get Up Kids "On a Wire," Spitalfield's "Remember Right Now," Jimmy Eat World's "Clarity," Saves the Day's "Stay What You Are), but when the attempt is not only outright disingenuine, but poor as well, sometimes you just have to shake your head and cut your losses. This album is probably one of the biggest letdowns since Michael Jackson's "History" and Wu-Tang Clan's "The W."