It may be embarrassing but even the biggest metal heads have found themselves drunkenly screaming ‘THE POOR GROOM’S BRIDE IS A WHORE’, on, shamefully, more than one occasion. Six years ago, Panic! At The Disco turned the musical world upside down with their flamboyant pop-punk and proudly worn eye liner. A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out spoke before it thought with smug, ‘I shouldn’t say this’ lyrics. Love them or hate them, Panic! certainly impacted the musical era. Three years on, Pretty.Odd was released and lost in bargain buckets after a failed attempt at a more sophisticated sound. Since then, various members have departed leaving just Brandon Urie and Spencer Smith to record the brand new album Vices & Virtues. With the exclamation mark reinstated, Panic! At The Disco are back and somehow, even as duo, are just as ‘hate to love’ egotistical emo-pop as they were in the beginning.
First single and album opener The Ballad Of Mona Lisa has obviously been strategically positioned to reignite early Panic! fan’s admiration. Over four minutes of baroque keyboard and guitar, Urie delivers an impressive vocal tailing stories of love and loss; its safe to say fans of the trashily inspired pop-punk will not be disappointed. From the twinkling keyboard introduction right through to the explosive sing along chorus, Panic! demonstrate a more sophisticated sound, without losing the frantic, sugar sweet, guitar influences. Incredibly as a duo, Urie and Smith have created a sound to compete with what their initial line up produced.
After a frantic, energy fuelled opening Panic! briefly slip into a slyer, more gothic like sound with Let’s Kill Tonight before flamboyantly disappearing back off into foot stomping Hurricane. There is no way that Vices & Virtues can be considered generic or formulaic amongst its genre. The ten track flurry provides irresistible chorus hooks, clever layering and use of completely unorthodox, yet complimenting, instruments; with so much going on it is impossible to skim over this record without wanting to re-listen and attempt to absorb everything that is going on.
Urie’s vocals are glossy and although in places, over produced, work perfectly to distract from the not so strong lyrical base. After the departure of main songwriter Ryan Ross, Panic! are left with the challenge of overcoming the lack of witty, oh-my-gosh lyrics that made the quartet enjoyable in the first place. The content of each verse is slightly more textbook but quickly distracted by the charm of each explosive chorus. Despite Urie’s best efforts at personalising the album, (he writes to an old girlfriend in Sarah Smiles and retrospectively discuses the band’s split in Calendar) the admirable charm isn’t coupled with the tongue in cheek wit and sarcasm of their debut.
Panic! At The Disco saw their fan base shrink considerably after attempting, and failing, with a new sound on their second album; with any luck, old fans will listen to Vices and Virtues and be screaming ‘WOO OOHH WOOO MONAAA LISAAA’ before they know it. The theatrical emo-pop storm has returned in the shape of a more-produced, less egotistical sound; Urie and Smith have got back in touch with their make up bags and the amiable goth-doused sound of their debut, yet somehow, with 50% less of a band, they have expanded their musical horizons. It is not questionable, that we will soon be greeted by Panic! At The Disco fans worldwide and their overuse of the beloved exclamation mark, and after a few drinks i’m sure the rest of us will be joining them.
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