The album MANIA is the newest release and seventh record from the Chicago native band Fall Out Boy. Despite some setbacks, it was released Fri., Jan 19. The album was supposed to debut back in September, but the band and label came to the conclusion that in order to put out their best possible work, it would have to be pushed back.

The first single from the album, “Young and Menace,” was released back in April 2017, followed by “Champion,” “Last of the Real Ones,” “Hold Me Tight or Don’t” and “Expensive Mistakes.” By the time the album was released, half of it had already come out, as the album only has ten songs total and is 35 minutes long in total. The other songs are titled “Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea,” “Heaven’s Gate,” “Sunshine Riptide” and “Bishops Knife Trick.”

Being an avid fan of 2005 emo bands, I heard “Young and Menace” the day it came out, and though some classic fans were upset by its techno-pop sound, I was excited. I’m a fan of that EDM sound, and the vocals were very intriguing.

The album as a whole is hard to listen to in it’s entirety. iTunes, Spotify and Google Play have the album in the wrong order, so listening to it the whole way through sounds like a bunch of singles with no real story line. The overarching factor is that a majority of the songs fall into a mix of EDM and FoB’s fifth record, Save Rock and Roll. As a whole, it doesn’t sound much like their most recent album American Beauty American Psycho, which debuted back in 2015. That album had a lot of radio-esque singles and subsequent lyricism, which I personally was not a fan of. This new album doesn’t sound wholly like anything we’ve heard before, so I will review it song by song.

The next single, “Champion,” left me feeling very disappointed and nervous about the album. It was very much radio pop, and the lyrics left much to be desired. It’s just your basic pop rock song, and it was discouraging. It was definitely my least favorite song on the whole track, and it felt like it belonged more on their last album. The third single, “Last of the Real Ones,” felt very much like one of the songs from their comeback, with a fast, angry tempo, and the guitars reaching the highest note they could.

The fourth single, “Hold Me Tight or Don’t,” had a Latin sound to it, with heavy drums and a lot of backing vocals with some EDM beats. This song was one of my favorites because it’s impossible to listen to without dancing and shaking your shoulders in your seat. It doesn’t sound like anything they’ve made before and shows off the lead singer Patrick Stump’s vocal talents very well. The fifth single, “Expensive Mistakes” is my second favorite song off of the album, giving us a great drop into the chorus, where the vocals are loud and echoey and then a smooth drop down into the verse. Again, a great song to dance to; it’s just a fun track.

The sixth and final single, “Church,” has a great power to it, with the lead vocals being backed by the sound of a church choir. It’s a song you want to scream at the top of your lungs. It reminds me of  Hozier’s “Take Me To Church” with it’s heavy guitar and powerful vocals. The first song that came with the album, “Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea,” has a super heavy bass in the background and a loud, thumping drum beat and a fast tempo with loud angry vocals. A great to get you pumped and possibly to work out to.

The next song with the album is “Heaven’s Gate,” which is the ballad of the album, with soft verses and a great heavy guitar intro into the chorus that you have to sing along to. The lyrics in this song are probably the best, and it does a great job of making you feel exactly how the band is feeling when recording.

The next song is “Sunshine Riptide ft. Burna Boy, “which isn’t exactly a radio song, but more of a club mix. Not one of my favorites on the album,  but it has a fun chorus and who knows, I wouldn’t be surprised if it got some radio play. The last song is “Bishops Knife Trick,” which isn’t super memorable, but it has a powerful sound that fades into quietness that works as a great send off for the album.

As a whole, I’m disappointed in the lazy lyricism that the album gave. One of my favorite things about the band has to be their clever lyrics, and this was relatively devoid of that. This album does though have a lot of great bops to nod along to, and isn’t devoid of the band’s classic sound, so I give it an 8/10.