Fall Out Boy
Save Rock And Roll

Before diving into the review, I feel obligated to provide a couple of useful premises, or at least I believe so, for understanding the 6th studio album by the Chicago band.
Premise #1: Patrick Stump's solo album ("Soul Punk"), released during FOB's hiatus in 2009, was, like the singer himself for that matter, vastly underrated.
Premise #2: during the hiatus, an unfortunate event occurred, with numerous insults directed at the singer for choosing a solo career. Regarding this, the singer expressed, "I’ve received some big cosmic sign that says I should disappear."

Fortunately, Patrick did not disappear. Instead, he returned with the rest of the band and created what we might consider a bit of his comeback: "Save Rock and Roll."

At a first listen, the album not only sounds very different from its predecessors but highlights Patrick's compositional taste much closer to R'n'B and Soul than one might think (haters gonna hate?).
The album, aptly named "Save Rock and Roll," according to the group, seems more like an attitude than just a musical genre, composed of 11 tracks (including 4 collaborations).

1 The Phoenix: clearly one of the more "majestic" tracks on the album. The strings intro fully supports what seems to be a declaration of war from the group, "Put on your war paints." 
A constant in the album, evident from this track, is the singer's versatility, alternating quite challenging tones with brief falsetto interludes... what can I say, Patrick never disappoints. No particular aspect to highlight for guitar, drums, and bass. Key piece for this new record.

2 My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up): the very catchy title of this track was essentially reworked from an old piece recorded by the group, hence a reference to the old FOB: extremely long song titles (certainly never as much as "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me"). The use of various samples in this track combined with a very electronic sound and the fact that it was the single preceding the album's release annoyed many old fans (including me). Overall, a work that has its purpose.

3 Alone Together: the first love song of the album. Personally, I find the arrangement of this track appreciable but somewhat cloying the choice of some textual solutions like "Let’s be alone together, we could stay young forever" "We’ll stay young, young, young, young, young." Ok, so what?
Let's move on to the next one.

4 Where Did The Party Go?: sounds like a piece by Ke$ha, but done better. Very easy, to be listened to without thinking too much; a negative aspect in my opinion is the overuse of those syllabic vocalizations like "na, na, na, na" which eventually become annoying. Audible.

5 Just One Yesterday (feat. Foxes): it's frightening how much the track initially seems like a copy of Adele's "Rolling In The Deep"... fortunately the rest of the song demonstrates a completely different character. In "Just One Yesterday" we find the first collaboration of the album, namely with a certain Foxes. My judgment on the song, including the part sung by Foxes, is really positive.
Once again, we don't find the Punk Rock sound, as clearly abandoned by the group, but rather a melancholic atmosphere, aided by the use of the piano and numerous other effects including those on the percussion. Another positive aspect in my opinion is the well-done and detailed lyrics; regarding this, we quote "Anything you say can and will be held against you, 
So only say my name" and "If heaven’s grief brings hell’s rain, then I’d trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday." Well done.

6 The Mighty Fall (ft. Big Sean): we come to the second collaboration, with rapper Big Sean.
I'm not sure how fitting the choice of this artist is, but overall the guy seems to do justice to a song with a particular theme: how the mighty fall in love. Having understood the group's objectives from the previous tracks, it's no surprise if we find only some timid riffs of distorted guitar and a drum set completely subdued to the new sound. A piece that lacks distinction.

7 Miss Missing You: Another pop arrangement sees the return in certain lines of the "emo" compositional fantasy of FOB's lyricist (Pete Wentz): "The person that you’d take a bullet for is behind the trigger." Nice.

8 Death Valley: One of the best tracks and also one of the less intelligible. Pop Rock lovers will find it a really interesting product. Although the role of guitars in the entire album is rather marginal, in this track you can find a couple of fairly amusing riffs (nothing exceptional to be clear). Once again, the focus is on the band's "demiurge." Patrick not only pushes hard in the choruses but also allows himself a Dance part with a Dubstep flavor in the special. Well done.

9 Young Volcanoes: track in James Blunt style, very cheerful, summery, and extremely pop. In the beach bonfire atmosphere made of choirs and hand claps, there is room for a text from carefree and lively teenagers. Mediocre.

10 Rat A Tat (feat. Courtney Love): I admit too, partly due to love for Nirvana and partly due to the consequent hatred for Kurt's wife, of having "gotten grumpy" at reading "feat. Courtney Love." Never was a prejudice more wrong. The onomatopoeic track, immediately aggressive, enriched by the "It’s Courtney bitch!" (reference to "Scream And Shout" by Spears and Will I Am), takes its place as one of the more interesting and unique tracks on the album for lyrics and sound.
From the start, as a sort of "captatio benevolentiae", we are asked "Are you ready for another bad poem? One more off key anthem?"; our answer can only be affirmative.
The text is dotted with a series of very evocative images, worth translating into Italian:
"my love is a weapon," "my heart is a grenade," "we are seasoned rose ash,"
"I'm the loneliest version of you," and "lonely as a little white church burning in the middle of the desert." Musically we find a very "catchy" bass and drum base in the verse followed by a progressive dynamic crescendo up to the chorus. The real Punk spirit of the song is revealed by Love's singing, which stirs the waters of an album that risked disappointing many fans' expectations. Energetic track.

11 Save Rock and Roll (feat. Elton John): we close in beauty with the superb collaboration with Elton John! Very mature track from every point of view, and a very apt collaboration. Musically, it follows the pattern of the previous tracks (use of numerous effects, certain aspects of tribal percussion), but it is greatly marked by the depth of the British songwriter (just consider the unmistakable piano part for an EJ fan).
Very essentialist lyrics, and in this regard, we quote: "I need more dreams and less life," "Trouble seems to follow," and "You are what you love not who loves you." Complete song, no doubt. Listen to it, period.

To summarize, don't expect an album-continuation of the previous ones, but consider it as an evolution of the group's sound with its merits and flaws… and for a quick listen, I recommend Death Valley, The Phoenix, and Rat A Tat.