On February 2, Fall Out Boy publicly denied intentions of reforming after its three-year break. Less than 48 hours later, the group released a single, announced 33 worldwide tour dates, and made its comeback album available for preorder.

The band emerged once again, as it claimed, to save rock and roll with a new album.

Save Rock and Roll features the standard Fall Out Boy lineup, with Patrick Stump on lead vocals and guitar, Pete Wentz as the primary lyricist and bassist, Andy Hurley on the drums and backup vocals, and Joe Trohmann on guitar and backup vocals. Various guests including Courtney Love, Elton John, Big Sean, and the British Foxes appear in several songs: while their performances are somewhat weaker than Fall Out Boy themselves, they certainly enrich the underlying ideas behind the album.

After Fall Out Boy began an indefinite hiatus in 2009, its recent reformation was kept in secret until the band released its first single (and second track of the album), “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘Em Up) along with tour dates and other news.

“This album is one that is particularly close to us. We recorded it in secret from the music industry, critics, and even our fans,” lyricist and bassist Wentz said on his official Tumblr. “This is not our first record, [but] because of the way we went about making this one in the shadows it is without a doubt the first record in a new chapter of Fall Out Boy.”

The album is, in a word, defiant, in its very own way. Rather than going with any signature sound of a particular music genre, the band decided to create a highly effective hybrid, blending its older genres of pop punk and alternative rock with, in some songs, R&B, soul rock, dance pop, and acoustic and keyboard-driven ballads. This resulted in a refreshing departure from old roots necessary for the band’s evolution: as the band members develop as individual people, their sound reflects this change as well as the change around them.

The second single released, “The Phoenix,” begins the album with both a literal and figurative bang, fast-paced and ultimately awe-inspiring (Put on your war paint!). Other notable songs include the bass-fueled “Where Did The Party Go,” the lyrically strong pieces “Just One Yesterday,” and “Miss Missing You,” and the harmony-laden “How The Mighty Fall.” The final three songs, “Young Volcanoes,” “Better Than This (Rat A Tat),” and the name-dropping “Save Rock And Roll” wrap up the album with a triumphant finish; they are the cream of an incredible crop.

Stump truly shines with his vocals, matured through four previous Fall Out Boy albums and a solo career, and carries the album altogether with his heart-wrenching belt and incredible range. Wentz, head lyricist collaborating with the other three bandmates, is not far behind, bringing back Fall Out Boy’s signature jagged metaphors and mind-blowingly savage observations in rhyme.

“Now we’re doomed to organizing walk-in closets like tombs / Silent film stars stuck in talking cinema life / So let’s fade away together one dream at a time,” he writes in “Where Did The Party Go.”

Throughout the process of its comeback, the band was lambasted by fans and critics for “selling out,” moving away from its trademark punk rock genre that was launched with its first two albums, Take This To Your Grave and From Under the Cork Tree. In response, Fall Out Boy has repeatedly addressed the idea of sound evolution and taking the band where it needed to go in present day.

“I don’t and never have believed that punk rock should be a sound,” Stump said on his official Twitter. “To me, ‘punk rock’ is about being yourself and being honest. It’s about making your own path. […] It’s not about going against the grain just to go against it, but it’s definitely not about falling in line.”

These ideas have clearly made their way into the album, turning it into a sort of subversive strike against genre boundaries while maintaining relatively innocuous and light instrumentals. The general themes are most noticeably those of fire and rebirth, referencing internal struggle and, of course, matters of heartbreak and love.

Save Rock and Roll ends on a rock-solid note with a slower piano ballad that shares the name of the album itself. “You are what you love / Not who loves you / In a world full of the word ‘yes’ / I’m here to scream / ‘No!’”

Guest feature Elton John takes the vocals with Stump as they sing of emotional strength and defiance against a world that may not like what it hears. The album finishes with the resounding, memorable lines “Oh no we won’t go / Cause we don’t know when to quit,” indicating that Fall Out Boy is back and here to stay for awhile longer.

Ultimately, Save Rock and Roll is a stellar comeback album from a band previously thought finished, earning a spectacular five stars out of five. The album is released worldwide for purchase on April 15, with US and world tours spanning all the way to the end of the year.