Patrick Stump and Peter Wentz of Fall Out Boy. Photo / AP
When it comes to career resurrections, Fall Out Boy's recent resurgence is nothing short of miraculous.
Having reunited in 2013, the Chicago quartet quickly lost the emo tag that saw them lumped in with long-lost bands like My Chemical Romance and Panic! at the Disco and re-imagined themselves as something
much more audacious - a pop act with plenty to say about the failing American Dream.
Just look at the great cover art for their sixth album, a record that aligns most closely with Green Day's similarly-themed American Idiot. It's a frenetic pop masterpiece, mashing up so many styles American Beauty/American Psycho often feels like they're ADD kids skipping through MTV music channels.
It never gets boring: Uma Thurman lays surf guitar grunt next to a One Direction chorus and throws in hip-hop grunts for good measure; stadium-rock stunner Centuries comes with serious metal grunt but pure pop melodies.
Tying it all together is shapeshifting front man Patrick Stump, who coos like Britney on Favorites Record, gets worked up like a rapper on the title track, and belts out choruses on Irresistible and Jet Pack Blues that make bands like Five Seconds of Summer look like kindy kids.
