Is Panic! Too Weird To Die Or Too Generic To Live

 Introduction

Meh. My thoughts when finishing the new album by Panic! At The Disco because unfortunately it does not live up to it's predecessors. While the band has seen many changes from it's original line up (most importantly the loss of bassist Jon Walker and main lyricist/guitarist Ryan Ross) it was nice to see Panic's lead vocalist and now lead writer Brendon Urie (along with original drummer Spencer Smith) was able to sustain such a behind-the-scenes change, releasing an album that many found to be superior to the 2008 follow-up Pretty Odd. But, let's take a moment to speak about not only "Pretty Odd" but the album that catapulted them into super-stardom A Fever You Can't Sweat Out Of.

The band formed back in 2004 in Summerlin, Las Vegas by Ryan Ross and Spencer Smith whom later invited Brent Wilson and Brendon Urie to join the band becoming nothing more than a Blink-182 cover band at the time. Eventually after hearing Brendon Urie sing during rehearsals, the band decided to change him to lead vocalist as opposed to current lead singer Ryan Ross. Focusing on making demos, as they felt the area they lived in would not be suitable for live performances, they ended up sending one to Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy who ended up signing the boys to his label named "Decaydance Records," a subsidiary of "Fueled By Ramen," in 2005. This also was the year the band released A Fever You Can't Sweat Out Of to massively positive critical acclaim. The album featured a variety of sounds from electronic dance fuck to Vaudevillian piano strings and accordion making Panic! At The Disco a household name.

The band went on to write three-fourths of another album but after careful examination decided they were unhappy with the style and the scrapped the ideas. This led to the band creating an album that was so opposite of their first effort it has a heavy split among fans, some feeling it's genius while others bash it stating there was nothing wrong with the old Panic! sound. This album was titled Pretty Odd and featured a very Beatles-esque sound with many woodwinds, acoustic guitar, and a variety on the singers allowing both Ross and Urie chances behind the microphone. After the mixed reception the band had a split with Ross and new bassist Jon Walker publicly leaving to make The Young Veins while Urie and Smith stayed together retooling Panic!. For times sake I will skip over their return in Vices and Virtues and dive right into their newest effort Too Weird To Live, Too Rare to Die.

  Welcome to Brendon Urie the one-man show

The Singles

Clocking in at just under thirty-three minutes Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! already has three singles released including the creepy serial killer inspired "Miss Jackson," the ballad-esque "This is Gospel," and their newest sex infused anthem "Girls/Girls/Boys." All of which are great songs but are very generic for the Panic! At The Disco fans have come to expect. "Miss Jackson" is a fun song if you can get past the semi-killer vibes. According to lead vocalist Urie it was about something that happened with him and how he felt when someone slept with him and disappeared without a trace the next day like he had done. This song in particular shows a huge disconnect from other songs that band has written in the past as it's electronics make it sound more like a new-age Fall Out Boy song (maybe rejected from Save Rock and Roll?). That being sad it along with it's follow-up "This is Gospel" do a great job of creating a pumped up electronic Panic! sound which unfortunately, cannot be said for the rest of the album.


"Girls/Girls/Boys" is the newest single released one day before the album flooded the internet and has quite the music videos for the ladies in the house (see below). The thing is you can hear the blatant 80's synth pop send up in this song which definitely is not a complete loss as the band is known for crossing over genres and decades. But the song itself does not have the energy of the past two songs, no matter how much Urie's belting tries to convince you otherwise. Aside from the cool synth line and groovy bass line there sadly is just not enough here to prove it deserved to be a single besides the success of their other sex-infused songs ("Lying is The Most Fun Girls Can Have Without Taking Their Clothes Off"). I may be missing the point with this bi-sexual decree of "Girls love Girls and Boys" but to me it just does not hit the mark other, much more deserving songs on this album have. Such as....

The Rest of The Album...

The rest of this album is best summed up through a few songs the band has written before. If you have listened to "Hurricane" and "Let's Kill Tonight"  from the album Vices and Virtues and liked them then you will like this album. If on the other hand you were like me and barely amused by the two songs, eventually finding them quite the watered-down version of Panic!'s sound, then you will you not like this album. The heavy hitters of the bad department are definitely the ill-fated Nicotine retreading over the commonly overused ground of a girl's love being an addictive substance and "Girl That You Love" which tries way too hard and sound like a  techno, synth-pop, Depeche Mode rip-off that does not lend itself any favors in an album filled with an homage to 80's synth pop. 

 

 The song may be absolute $h!t but this video is hilarious

The few stand-out tracks on the album are: "Vegas Lights" which is the pinnacle of this album's sound but  for some reason woks in a shameless sense; "Casual Affair" which offers a breathe of fresh air from the terrible "Girls/Girls/Boys;" and the ending track "The End Of All Things" which blends piano, strings, and vocals in a way I wish the previous tracks had as this sound would've suited Panic! much better. It's really the end of the album where I wish the album would've started as things start to pick up after "Girls/Girls/Boys" and evolve into what sounds like a Panic! album. But, sadly of the ten songs on this album far too many are meh or barely worthy of praise. It is for this reason I regrettably need to give this album such a low score.

Concluding Thoughts

I could sadly go on about how much of a disappointment this album was and where it could've done so much better but I will only leave with this: I was a huge fan of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out Of, feel that Pretty Odd is extremely underrated, and enjoyed the simple fun of Vices and Virtues from all of it's huge electronic sound scapes. That being said, this is overkill of electronics, though it could be that 80's synth pop is my least favorite genre of music, and really should've been shelved for the much more lively and better material we all know Panic! can provide. Next time we're flying back into my Independent Closet to listen to the debut release of TWICEYOUNG entitled Little Mind Alike.

DECODED: 6.5 out of 10

As always please like, share, and comment below!

BUY IT: This is Gospel, Miss Jackson, Casual Affair, Far Too Young Die, The End Of All Things

 

HEAR IT:  Vegas Lights, Collar Full

TRASH IT:  Nicotine, Girl That You Love,Girls/Girls/Boys

*As with all things, the opinions expressed our purely that of the author and should be taken as such. ** All images, music, and information used are for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement intended.