I've
always been at least a casual fan of Panic! At the Disco. I actually
still remember the time I Write Sins Not Tragedies was
released, and man – it's still such a tune. The reason why I
describe myself as a "casual fan" is simply because I was
never invested enough to be devastated when Ryan Ross, Jon Walker and
Spencer Smith consecutively left the band. Brendon Urie is doing more
than just fine on his own, and he very impressively illustrates that
in Panic! At the Disco's newest release called Death of a
Bachelor.
To
be quite honest, I had only just caught up on the previous release – Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die – from 2014 (which
is also a great record), when I realised that the next one was
already out. Death of a Bachelor is mostly fast-paced
with three slower songs (Death of a Bachelor, House of Memories and Impossible Year) thrown into the mix. It clocks in about 37
minutes, and it's addictive. I've caught myself listening to the
whole album multiple times a day; I love to listen to it on my way to
work, because the first song alone – Victorious – has me
levelling up. Perfect song to power walk while lip syncing to it on
the street (and have people look at you like you're a lunatic, too)!
Same goes for Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time and especially
Emperor's New Clothes: What a tune. Great music video, too!
Brendon
Urie's range is quite impressive – I understand little to nothing
about the technical bits of music and singing, but I love how he can
belt out the high nothes and do the low Sinatra-eque (listen: Death
of a Bachelor) bits as well. Vocally, I think it's the best Panic!
Record yet – maybe together with Vices and Virtues from 2011.
When
I first described the record to a friend, I think I said "It's
so good, it makes you want to destroy things – but in a good way!",
and that's still pretty much my opinion. Since it's so fast-paced
with a great beat and lyrics, it's the perfect album for hitting up
the gym (oh wow, another sentence I never thought I'd type a few
years ago!). I'd actually go as far as to say that even though it was
released in January, this will probably be one of my Top 3 albums of
2016 – I think that's quite the claim myself!
Favourite
tracks? Pretty much all of them, but if I HAD to narrow it down to 5
...
Victorious
– Hallelujah – Emperor's New Clothes – Crazy=Genius –
Impossible Year