Fall Out Boy: Save Rock and Roll- Hear the full album here + track by track review

                                                   Picture Credit: Island Records

Recently Fall Out Boy put their whole album up for streaming on Soundcloud! Here's my review of the upcoming album- Save Rock and Roll.

Listen to the full album here
Hear all the individual songs here

My Song Knows What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up)- This was definitely the song to come back with. Definitely a standout song, this song has a killer beat and great vocals. The song is structured perfectly around the beat, hitting the highs at just the right point, and also hitting the breaks at the right points. The song really doesn't offer much lyrics wise, as it is mainly just chorus, but the way it's structured definitely makes up for that.

2 Chainz Remix- This version isn't just an extra verse by 2 Chainz, it changes the beat into well, a totally different beat, giving the song a more electronic feel, which somehow blends with the song perfectly. 2 Chainz's verse really doesn't add much to the song, but the beat switch up was definitely welcomed.

The Phoenix- This song starts out... well basically crazy. The beat is absolutely incredible, the instruments are a full out orchestra., which pairs great with Patrick Stumps's vocals. The song starts out very hard and gritty (in a good way) but as the song goes on they know when to pull back and slow it down, and the chorus combines both of those, the grittiness and the pulled back parts, and it works incredibly. The song shows off Patrick Stump's incredible range, and is able to do this while still making a very radio friendly song.

Young Volcanoes- This song is much more slowed down, and toned down from the rest of the album, and a bit folk reminiscent at some parts, although the beat does pick up a bit throughout the song. This song does a great job at showing off Patrick Stump's vocals (once again) and while I'm pretty sure this song won't be a single, I'm sure most Fall Out Boy Fans will really enjoy this song.

Alone Together- Alone Together starts off very different from most of the album as well, just like Young Volcanoes. This song is more on the pop side, which actually surprised me a bit. However, while I do enjoy this song, I don't think this song was necessarily for them, as it just doesn't sound quite right. So while this isn't my favorite song off the album, I don't particularly... hate it.

Where Did The Party Go- This song is also much more pop than I expected, which once again, surprised me. This song does work a bit better than Alone Together, but it really isn't much. It just doesn't really offer as much as it could. It almost sounds like on this song, they were thinking about singles and the radio, and not much else. I feel like this part of the album, including Alone Together, was just a bit of a misstep. Let's hope the next few songs pick back up.

Just One Yesterday (Feat. Foxes)- Yay! The weird pop thing is over! This song changes gears a bit, and features Pete Wentz as the main vocalist, which is nice to keep the album from being monotonous, but his voice really just doesn't appeal to me. However, with a nice beat, and some great backup vocals, this song pulls it through, even if the song is mainly just the same lyrics over and over again. Also, Foxes feature definitely adds some variety to this song.

The Mighty Fall (Feat. Big Sean)- The Mighty Fall definitely puts this album back on the rock course  which was definitely needed, and it doesn't just get the job done, it gets the job done well. This song has a great beat, awesome lyrics, and a killer speed, which of course, all blend together very well. Big Sean's verse felt very out of place here, really out of place. Like seriously, I can't stress this enough, that verse had no business being there, and was probably just there to pull some rap fans over to this album. But besides that verse, this is definitely one of the powerhouses on this album.

Miss Missing You- Oh Fall Out Boy, why do you do this to me? I'm not exactly sure what genre this is, but it isn't rock, at least, not the harder rock I wanted from this album. And even though the lyrics are powerful, and do tell a story, this song just doesn't do it for me, like unfortunately, many of the other songs on this album.

Death Valley- Ok, maybe I've been a bit too hard on this album, maybe I haven't. Whatever the case, this song brought the album back in my opinion. Another great beat, like all the songs on this album, contributes greatly to this song. But the vocals contribute just as much, and both elements work well together to make this a standout on the album. The end of this song features a nice switch up, which wasn't long, but added some variety to the otherwise monotonous song.

Rat A Tat (feat. Courtney Love)- Well, Courtney annoyed me, pretty much through the whole song, but this is the kind of song I wanted to hear, and this brings me back to the old Fall Out Boy. It's a quick paced, hard song, which I really enjoyed. And well, pretty much all the beats on this album are great, and all work great with the vocals they are paired with. This song does have a lot of variety as well, and as much as I hate Courtney Love's parts of the song, she does add variety as well. What do you think of Courtney's parts? Tell me in the comments down before after you listen to it!

Save Rock and Roll (Feat. Elton John)- Well, this song's beat definitely takes the cake... the... beat cake. This song is very powerful, and was a great way to end off the album, and while I was really hoping there weren't any slow songs on this album, this was a slow song, but I really enjoyed it. Elton John and Patrick Stump also harmonize very well together, and while I didn't expect them to harmonize together, it sounded great. surprisingly. Overall, this was a great closing song.

Overall, I was expecting a lot more from this album, and while it didn't meet my expectations, it was a good album. I was expecting (and hoping for) some more rock on this album, and I wasn't given that, I was given a lot of variety, some of which just didn't work. Overall, while I liked this album, I thought it could have been much better than it is.

                                                                                                                        -Colby