Pomegranate Seeds: 7/10

Fall Out Boy recently released their eighth studio album, So Much (For) Stardust. Coming five years after their last album, it was a long wait for new music. Here are my thoughts on the band’s newest project.

The album started strong with track one, “Love From The Other Side.” The song had an interesting opening that easily transitioned into full-on rock. The instruments were great and made the song feel very climactic. The lyrics were fun and it had a good beat. There was a lot of energy during the chorus and it was a great, energy-filled start for the album. “Love From The Other Side” is one of the best tracks on the album and set my expectations high.

Track two, “Heartbreak Feels So Good,” continued the energy from the last track but with a more electronic vibe. The instrumentation was very well done and sounded similar to Bastille’s music. There was a good build-up of energy in the chorus, which made the song even more fun. The chorus was the best part and featured a few great mini guitar solos. “Hold Me Like a Grudge” was next and would prove to be one of the best songs on the album. It had more punkish vibes and switched out the guitars for a lot of bass. Lead singer Patrick Stump sounded great and the lyrics were also fun and well-written. The song had a great rhythm and the lyrics, instruments, and chorus were all fantastic.

Fall Out Boy continued with high energy on track four, “Fake Out.” The song was fun to listen to and had great lyrics, as always, but they were also more cheerful and happy. The bridge and chorus were both very good and there was a good level of energy throughout the entire song. Track five, “Heaven, Iowa,” slowed it down a bit, but was still a well-made song. While instruments and production were done well, the song wasn’t very attention-grabbing and overall a little boring. The energy picked up a little during the chorus but, with the song being so long, it started to get pretty repetitive with the instruments and lyrics.

“So Good Right Now” turned out to be the biggest disappointment on the album. The song was positive but in a cheesy, juvenile way. I could imagine “So Good Right Now” being the theme song for a show on the Disney Channel. It didn’t have a lot of good rock elements and is a failure compared to the previous tracks, which were all good. “The Pink Seashell” was a nice interlude that thankfully ended the last song, but it also signaled a shift in the album. After “The Pink Seashell,” the album starts to go downhill.

Track eight, “I Am My Own Muse,” had an interesting opening that made it feel like it belongs in Star Wars. The instruments are very intense and dramatic and are the best part of the song by far. Although, the song was way too long for how one-note it was, and after a while, I got bored with the instruments, which were the only thing I liked. Track nine, “Flu Game,” had an energetic opening but quickly started to sound similar to “I Am My Own Muse.” This song could just be a continuation of the last track. The song had a great beat and the chorus and non-chorus were on the same level, but both were pretty average. The instruments were the best part of the track.

“Baby Annihilation” was another interlude that felt unnecessary and didn’t add anything to the album. Track 11, “The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years),” was another one of my least favorite tracks. The instruments were very similar to those in “Flu Game” and got repetitive. Definitely one of the skips on the album. Track 12, “What A Time To Be Alive,” had a dramatic opening and fun instruments that, thankfully, were not repetitive like the last few songs. The instruments and production were good, but overall the song was pretty average. The album closed with “So Much (For) Stardust” which was a very dramatic song and was a decent closer for the album. The chorus was good and had a good amount of energy. The song was generally good but was very one-note and way too long.

So Much (For) Stardust is a well-produced album with good instrumentation and a few notable tracks. While there were things I liked about it, the album still felt very average and boring at times and is not some of the better work Fall Out Boy has put out, giving the album 7/10 pomegranate seeds. So Much (For) Stardust is worth a listen for any Fall Out Boy fans.