January 14, Take This to Your Grave by Fall Out Boy

Genre: Pop punk
Year: 2003
Runtime: 39:24
Total tracks: 12
Songs you might know:
– “Dead on Arrival”
– “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy Tonight”
– “Saturday”

My prior relationship with this album: Believe it or not, I had never really sank my teeth into Take This To Your Grave despite considering Fall Out Boy one of my favorite bands for the last decade. Sure, I knew the singles from it, and enjoyed them as much as any other FOB tracks, but I was content enough with From Under the Cork Tree and Infinity on High that I never really bothered to go back to this one before now. I definitely remember jamming out to “Dead On Arrival” on one of the Rock Band video games though.

My impressions this time around: You really can’t ask for much more in a pop punk album. You have the catchy hooks of pop, the instrumentation of rock, and the whiny lyrics of teen angst. It’s the sort of thing that feels like it could’ve been recorded by the boys next door fooling around in their parents’ garage if said boys actually had talent and skill. That being said, it’s a little too homogenous for me. Most of these songs would do just fine if they came up on shuffle, but when I listen to all twelve in one go and they kind of muddy together.

Who would enjoy it? Really any fan of pop punk. If you’re like me and played From Under the Cork Tree repeatedly but never went back to the album that started it all, you should. It’s definitely worth your time. However, there’s not really anything here for people who don’t like that specific type of music. It’s well executed, but not a fresh spin on the genre.

* This post is part of a theme week, where I listened to all 7 Fall Out Boy studio albums in one week. Check out my other reviews here:

– From Under the Cork Tree
– Infinity on High
– Folie á Deux
– Save Rock and Roll
– American Beauty/American Psycho
– M A N I A