REVIEW: PANIC! AT THE DISCO “VICES & VIRTUES”
Vices & Virtues - Panic! At The Disco
Record Label: Fueled by Ramen
Release Date: March 22nd, 2011
Panic! At the Disco was a household name back in 2005. The band was comprised of ridiculously young band members that had the talent of some of the scene’s veterens. Making what seemed to be a stupid mistake, Panic! released their second full length, Pretty. Odd, and threw their entire audience for a loop. Pretty. Odd was a record out of left field most notably because of the lack of synth and electronics present. After a few member changes and a long wait, Panic! has released their newest album, Vices & Virtues.
The album starts out with the track “The Ballad of Mona Lisa,” which is a great song. A huge chorus, “I Write Sins”-esque orchestra, catchy melodies, and pretty much everything you’d expect from a Panic! song and otherwise a beautiful way to start the album. Brendon Urie does a great job at making his vocal present in this song and many other songs on the album, but for some reason the second track on the album, “Let’s Kill Tonight,” takes what the first track had and ruins it. The verses lack the hooking aspect of the first track, but thankfully get redeemed by the chorus, which isn’t even Panic!’s best lyrically.
Luckily, the album doesn’t have too many hiccups in it. Vices & Virtues takes what Panic! is good at, which isn’t necessarily the best sound for them, and capitalizes it. The album does a good job at incorporating catchy, sing-along choruses, and instrumentally dynamic song parts, and capitalizes on them. I found the verses to be very weak on this album. That’s not to say that all of the verses on the album are weak. The songs “Trade Mistakes,” “Ready to Go (Get Me Out of Here),” and finisher, “Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met)” have very strong verses and choruses making them the most well-rounded songs on the album.
Panic! played it very safe on this album by taking the instrumental eccentricity from Pretty. Odd and theater-esque traits from A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out and mashing them together to make this album. Vices & Virtues is by no means album of the year material, but it is great to see the band back and making music again. I can see the band coming full circle with their next album and definitely surprising a lot of us because the record has so much potential to be great.
Go pick up the album when it’s released March 22nd if you are a fan of the first two albums/the band because you won’t be disappointed!
Reviewed by Jared Ohgren
Verdict: ★★★/★★★★★
Tracklisting:
1. The Ballad of Mona Lisa
2. Let’s Kill Tonight
3. Hurricane
4. Memories
5. Trade Mistakes
6. Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)
7. Always
8. The Calendar
9. Sarah Smiles
10. Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met)
Panic! At The Disco is:
Brendon Urie - Vocals/Guitar
Spencer Smith - Drums
