It’s funny how a hit album changes everything for a band.

2005’s “From Under the Cork Tree” brought Fall Out Boy money and fame. Unfortunately for the group, it also brought big expectations for their follow-up album.

So, it’s surprising that “Infinity on High” is such an aggressive effort, an album almost defensive in nature – as if the band feels like they have something to prove. And maybe they do.

While it would be easy for Fall Out Boy to embrace their role as critical darlings and write about “real world” issues, the band wisely resists the temptation to artistically “develop,” opting instead to pile-drive the listener with song hooks galore and those long, rambling song titles that are the band’s calling card.

The hyperactive feel that dominated “From Under the Cork Tree” is replaced by an authoritative, rhythmic pump that swings, stomps and thumps. And the record grooves – something that their last album didn’t always do.

The problem is that the band gets caught up in their celebrity at times. The holier-than-thou lyrics of “Thriller” paint a picture of a band desperate to shake the label of “musical saviors.”

However, the missteps are no match for the catchy guitar riffs on “Thnks fr th Mmrs” and “Hum Halleujah,” the odd lyrical musing on “The (After) Life of the Party,” and the sheer fun of songs like “The Take Over, The Breaks Over” and “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race.”

“Infinity on High” isn’t anything like “From Under the Cork Tree” … it’s better.