Fall Out Boy

Take This to Your Grave (2003)

Greg

I've got a feeling that all the teenage girls will be screaming over these guys soon, if they aren't already.

This record is polished pop-punk with hooks up the wazzoo, in a cardboard case plastered with pics of the band showing off their tattoos and Converse low-tops. And with lines like "I want to hate you / half as much as I hate myself" even the young "emo" girls may fall for them. Check the back of the CD to find titles like "The Pros and Cons of Breathing," "Sending Postcards from a Plane Crash (Wish You Were Here)," and the Most Über-emo Song Title Award goes to "Reinventing the Wheel to Run Myself Over."

Here you'll find a sound reminiscent of Midtown as well as Chicago peers Knockout and Starstruck, with a dash of Taking Back Sunday style lyrics. Seriously though, these guys have some good tunes if you can get past the unoriginality. Warning: the song "Dead on Arrival" will have the lyrics "This is side one / flip me over / I know I'm not your favorite record / The songs you grow to like / never stick at first / so I'm writing you a chorus / and here is your verse" stuck in your head, whether you like it or not. These guys follow the tested formula with hooks galore, studio-polished vocal harmonies, and the uptempo-breakdown-uptempo roadmap, all with production up to the par with some major-label pop punk records.

Some of the better tracks include the old Saves the Day style "The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes" with that one squeaky high note leading into the sing-able chorus, punk ballad "Saturday" (despite the out of place thunderous screaming in the background), and the aforementioned "Dead on Arrival." All the tunes are decent, they just all give me déjà vu.

Even though they are at no forefront of anything, these boys will go far with their tight and catchy pop punk, played from behind an emo attitude. Despite the pleas of many of you who I'm sure will comment on the board, Fall Out Boy may be making it big soon.