"Thriller," the first track on Fall Out Boy's new album, Infinity On High, opens with Jay-Z rapping, "Yeah, what you critics said would never happen/ We dedicate this album to anybody people said couldn't make it/ To the fans that held us down 'till everybody came around."
Wait, Jay-Z on a Fall Out Boy album? This ain't no From Under the Cork Tree, their saccharin-infused major-label debut.
Sure, they're still pop-punk. Their infectious and catchy sound (not to mention their sentence-long song titles) are what attracted their tremendous following and string of MTV hits. And if this album really is dedicated to the fans, then straying from this formula would just be hypocritical.
Still, the band has grown by leaps and bounds since their previous release by incorporating sounds and styles from other genres. For example, the single "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race," combines a funky hip-hop beat, hard-hitting guitars and a brassy, dark, sing-along chorus. "Thnks fr th Mmrs," on the other hand, spices it up Mediterranean-style, with a castanet-fueled bridge. This album is genre-melding at its best.
Infinity on High may be a little clunky on some of its slower tracks, such as the piano ballad "Golden," but these are few and far between. Jay-Z then is right-Fall Out Boy has surprised this critic with a (gasp) mature album.
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