Infinity On High - Fall Out Boy

Never let it be said that I don't give things a fair crack of the whip. Prior to the release of the, endearingly crazy, single This Ain't A Scene It's An Arms Race I treated FOB with more than a little disdain. Granted, they were more appealing than the likes of Panic!At The Disco but not appealing enough for me to ever want to sit through the whole of one of their albums.

Still that single certainly caught my ears, even if initially it was something akin to what the Backstreet Boys might come up with (at least until the chorus). But therein lies the surprising charm in their 4th album, Infinity On High.

It's "rock" but with enough "pop" elements to charm me, although by the same token it will probably alienate the more hardcore rock elements amongst us. But with the huge record sales this is likely to rack up what's a few upset rock fans labelling them "sell out's"?

Much has been made of the R'n'B link up (Babyface produces two tracks and Jay-Z cameo's on album opener Thriller) but really its business as usual, although it is true the Babyface collaborations Thnks Fr Th Mmres and I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You) - catchy title - are two of the standouts on this collection.

Other highlights include The Take Over, The Break's Over (which sounds a little Lost Prophets to my ears) and I've Got All This Ringing In My Ears And None On My Fingers both of which marry killer riffs with catchy choruses.

Sure there are moments that are a little too over-wrought (The After Life Of The Party) and a little too full of cliches (Don't You Know Who I Think I Am) and the preponderance of long and supposedly witty song title can grate but on the whole this is really quite a good record indeed.

I would suspect their rabid fans will love it, but I suspect that some "non-fans" might find themselves listening to this on the basis of Arms Race...and those that do might find themselves enjoying a lot of this as well. Much like I did.

Perhaps I'm ill or something ;-D