The puppy dog eyes, under bite and pubescent-looking torso of Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz have aided his band's ascent to the position of chief poster boys of the now lucrative emo scene. The twist being that he's neither his band's singer, nor its creative driving force. Fall Out Boy, rather, are led by Patrick Stump, a marshmallow-faced anti-frontman who has steered the Chicago four-piece from angst-fuelled post-Green Day punk rockers into a multi-platinum-selling pop machine.
The remaining traces of the punk sensibility that marked 2007's Infinity on High out as arguably the ultimate realisation of the oxymoronic 'commercial punk' canon are but a vague memory on the band's fifth full-length studio outing. Their recently released cover of Jacko's 'Beat It' appears to have been more than just idle between-album fun. Wentz's love of the limelight - he's in a much-publicised relationship with teeny-bop delinquent Ashlee Simpson while photos of himself, nude, turned on up the web - has allowed Stump to retreat further into his childhood Eighties fantasies and MOR aspirations.
These are most evident on their vogue-ing Duran Duran tribute, 'Tiffany Blews'. 'You're a classic, like a little black dress,' runs its startlingly suave refrain. Indeed, one wonders whether an entirely separate vocal studio was required for the harmonic textures that spill over from the dizzying rock opera of '27', or the Justin Timberlake-like falsetto that dominates 'The (Shipped) Gold Standard's FM radio rock. As for 'w.a.m.s.' and 'West Coast Smoker', they combine extravagant orchestral drama with a sleek, hooky momentum that's more Quincy Jones than Mick Jones.
The combination of hotshot producer Neil Avron (also known for his work with Linkin Park) and Stump's nostalgic leanings mean that each chug, roar and wail of the band's guitars come shrinkwrapped within squeaky-clean studio compression. And while this all may sound suspiciously over-indulgent, the fact is these self-styled 'soft-core' rockers are fulfilling their own prophesy. Having always eyed the glitz and gleam of the mainstream, it's hard to begrudge them these overblown gestures at this stage in their career. They are, it would seem, finally coming out of themselves.
Download 'Home is Where the Heart is'; 'You're a Classic'; 'Hurry Hurry'