Believers Never Die (Volume Two), the band’s second greatest hits collection, is a more promising place than their first. Believers Never Die (Volume One) mostly consisted of emo singles, allowing the band to compile the songs that broke them into the popular music scene in the first place. However, its release came just before the band’s unfortunate announcement of their 2009 hiatus where it later became clear that the band’s rapid success was quickly turning into something toxic for all four band members. After their four year breather, the band broke the silence with their 2013 release of “My Songs Know What You Did in The Dark,” serving as a gateway to a new era for the band, coined “Fall Out Boy 2.0.” It’s within this six-year period that Believers Never Die (Volume Two) finds its basis, covering their best songs from their albums Save Rock and Roll (2013), American Beauty / American Psycho (2015), and MANIA (2018).
The album runs through their greatest hits in chronological order, fittingly starting with “My Songs Know What You Did in The Dark” before transitioning into the symphony theatrics and gritty vocals of “The Phoenix” and the energetic beats of “Alone Together,” also off of Save Rock and Roll. From here, songs and their ideas become larger and farther-reaching with the introduction of “Centuries,” a high-energy tune featuring the passionate, powerful vocal performance from Patrick Stump as he belts “You will remember me for centuries!” Also off of American Beauty / American Psycho is “Immortals,” a song with a taste of Asian- styled electronics written for Disney’s Big Hero 6, as well as “Uma Thurman,” which samples from the “The Munsters” theme song.
The final half of the album borrows from their most experimental album, MANIA, and “The Last of the Real Ones” exemplifies the band’s attempt for a fresher sound. While the tune maintains the band’s signature vocal spunk, it deviates from their rock and roll style with its electronic motifs and heightened production approach to smooth out some of the band’s rougher edges. “I’ve Been Waiting” pushes these boundaries even further with its crisp beats and collaboration with Lil Peep and iLoveMakonnen.
What makes this album stand out among the greatest hits collections is that the band finishes the album with two previously unreleased songs, “Dear Future Self” and “Bob Dylan.” The former features Wyclef Jean and runs through bouncy pop loops with subtle electronic pulses lingering in the background. The latter ties up the album nicely with winding digital melodies and emotional, love-stricken lyrics that draw parallels between the love one feels for their significant other and the love they feel for music’s most well-respected artists: “Cause everyone loves Bob Dylan / I just want you to love me like that, yeah / Would you bury me next to Johnny Cash?”
While Believers Never Die (Volume Two) demonstrates the distance the band has maintained from its emo roots, the most notable aspect of the album is its emphasis on how much the band has progressed since it first started. Despite their lengthy hiatus, the band has proven its ability to learn from their mistakes and keep running with music that works well for them. Fall Out Boy continues to fearlessly pursue the very best versions of themselves, and this hopeful attitude is what will make them “remembered for centuries.”