Fall Out Boy - So Much (For) Stardust

Eighth album from the award-winning American pop-punk band

For their eighth album, So Much (for) Stardust, FOB return to Fueled by Ramen, the label known for their all-star roster of emo and pop-punk heavyweights, for the first time since their 2003 debut.

In doing so, writes Rolling Stone, they pinpointed what made them such an enduring standout in the first place (and what they may have lost in their effort to redefine their sound): a type of bold, incisive, emotional theatricality that places them among rock's most endearing misfits.

Stardust opens with lead single "Love From the Other Side," a celestial epic full of biting one-liners ("I'd never go/I just wanted to be invited") and apocalyptic reflections on pain and heartbreak, a mix only Fall Out Boy can make effective. It kicks off a four-song punch of the band's finest pop writing in ages. "Heartbreak Feels So Good" has an instant classic hook, with an ace Stump vocal hitting perfectly scream-along worthy lines like "We could cry a little/Cry a lot/Don't stop dancing/Don't dare stop." Pete Wentz hits a particularly funky bass line on "Hold Me Like a Grudge," a groovy and tight tune with the best title on the album, hands down. "Fake Out" is slick and breezy, like a teen movie soundtrack with lines like "My mood board is just pictures of you" that recall the band's 2005 highpoint From Under the Cork Tree.

As always, Fall Out Boy's riskier feats are some of the strongest. "Heaven, Iowa" is a gorgeous power ballad, chock full of references to movies and their own 2013 LP, Save Rock and Roll. A sample of Ethan Hawke's dialogue in Reality Bites cuts the album in half, complemented by a stunning ambient score. "Baby Annihilation" features an excellent spoken-word performance from Wentz, the first time he's done so on a Fall Out Boy record since 2008's Folie à Deux.

Love from the Other Side

Heartbreak Feels So Good

Hold Me Like a Grudge

Fakeout

Heaven, Iowa

So Good Right Now

The Pink Seashells (feat. Ethan Hawke)

I Am My Own Muse

Flu Game

Baby Annihilation

The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years)

What a Time to Be Alive

So Much (For) Stardust

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