April 10 | Written By Gabriella Bosticco

While Fall Out Boy's eighth studio album returns to their emo roots, it's as a springboard rather than a script. 

While So Much (For) Stardust shows that the experimentation of Mania was just a phase, there are echoes of its electronic elements and bouncy riffs. This is especially true of upbeat tracks like Fake Out and Hold Me Like A Grudge which feature synth segments. There is an overall smoother, more polished sound than the original albums, but with the guitars and punchy vocals that feel distinctly like Fall Out Boy.

They play into the theatrics of their style with two spoken word tracks: The Pink Seashell and Baby Annihilation. The former features a monologue from Reality Bites in which Ethan Hawke discusses the futility of life, and the latter is a classic Pete Wentz poetry interval, once again reminiscent of their early albums.  

The titular closing track reprises motifs from the beginning of the album to reach a powerful crescendo. It encompasses the album as a whole; full of the bittersweet, world-weary cynicism of an ex-optimist.Overall, So Much (For) Stardust is an evolution of Fall Out Boy's sound that distinctly belongs to the modern emo genre. 

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