Fall Out Boy

Take This To Your Grave

Written by: PP on 22/07/2009 07:52:33

Yeah, this one needs to be in our database too, not only because it's the Fall Out Boy debut album (they don't count the one before because it sucks), but because it's undeniably one of the best pop punk albums, and certainly in the top 5 from the God knows how manyeth wave of pop punk (you know, the one that has bands like Panic! At The Disco, All Time Low and these guys etc). Whatever you might think about the band today (perhaps you're like me and think they're a shadow of the band they once were), there's just no way around the fact that "Take This To Your Grave" is unequivocally the best Fall Out Boy album to date, and it's increasingly looking like they'll never be able to top it.

"TTTYG" was the first time we were introduced to the retardedly long song titles like "Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today" or "Sending Postcards From A Plane Crash (Wish You Were Here)", that have nowadays become more like the norm than the exception with scene-tinged pop punk bands. However, even if FOB were trend-setters, all of this happened back when they were still punk. Well okay, pop punk, but all songs on this record are high-octane while being some of by far the best tracks the band has written during their career: "Saturday" is pure sing along godhood while featuring some unforgettably catchy riffing alongside "Dead On Arrival", "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy Tonight" has that "Where is your boy tonight, I hope he is a gentleman, maybe he won't find out what I know" intro lyric that people are still singing today, six years later, and "Calm Before The Storm" is still unbeatable when it comes to summer anthems. You know, those that you'd pay big money to blast out your speakers on a nice open-top porsche or something.

And those are just the genre classics. Then there's the hardcore punk oriented "Reinventing The Wheel To Run Myself Over" which races by whilst allowing Stump to shine on vocals (more on that soon), or the melodic taps of "The Patron Saint Of Liars And Fakers", both of which are sure to be attention-grabbers if you're at all into the genre. To be honest, every track on the record holds that sort of status, thanks to Stump's consistently brilliant vocal performance that brings a great deal of honesty into the mix. A song like "Homesick At Space Camp" wouldn't be that good if it wasn't for Stump's ability to write (or is it Wentz who writes them?) innovative vocal harmonies and perform them with precise perfection. Some may argue that his vocal range isn't as wide here as it is on, say, "Infinity On High", but in my opinion this album is where he's at his best, "From Under The Cork Tree" following as a close second. He's not showing off at the ultra high gay notes like on the latest record, and instead has just just enough amount of rawness and potent energy in his voice to charm the listener. That his voice was overproduced to the point of vomiting on "Folie A Deux" was one of the reasons why that album won't be remembered by the scene (perhaps not the mainstream) in six years time the same way as "Take This To Your Grave" will be - and then it'll be 12 years under the belt for this one.

9

Download: Dead On Arrival, Calm Before The Storm, Saturday
For the fans of: (old) Panic! At The Disco, All Time Low, Motion City Soundtrack, Hit The Lights
Listen: Myspace

Release date 06.05.2003
Fueled By Ramen

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