Panic! At The Disco -Vices and Virtues

Thu 7th Apr, 2011 in Music Reviews

It has become quite the tradition now that with each new album released by Las Vegas band Panic! At The Disco, there comes a change in the lineup of musicians or a definitive new direction in sound. Of course with their debut album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, Panic! had the mainstream audiences salivating at their pop based music that was undeservedly tagged “emo” punk. Only then to be followed by Pretty Odd, which considering their previous material, was quite strange. The new sound was an indirect imitation of work by The Beatles.

Now, in 2011, Panic! At The Disco has lost three members (which now makes them a duo – Spencer Smith and Brendon Urie ) and have created Vices and Virtues, an album which returns closer to their grass roots, but has been tailor made to target the charts with a sound very similar to the likes of Fall Out Boy or equivalent pop-punk acts.

Their first single from the album, The Ballad Of Mona Lisa, is a stereotypical, template-based pop song. With a chorus half consisting of “Woah,” post-production created harmonies and a very simple chord progression, the title song doesn’t leave much food for thought in terms of originality. Sure it is incredibly catchy and they have their trademark minor tonality on verses and bridges, but it sounds similar to almost any other pop-rock track heard on the popular radio stations.

A new audience will surely be accepting of this new direction taken by Panic!, with an infestation of musical hooks and catchy lyrics being the support network for the album. But the depth of sound that was appreciated on Pretty Odd has been left in the closet, hopefully for a later date.

A most likely candidate for the second single from Vices and Virtues is the track Hurricane, a potential live concert favourite with oodles of opportunities for audience participation in terms of screaming the lyrics as loud as they can.

A slight reprieve comes just a little too late, with the closing track Nearly Witches providing a mixture of both the strong points of their previous albums combined into a single track. Urie’s vocal ability, including his stellar vibrato ability, is on show and includes some string sections that we were familiarised by the their second album.

Vices and Virtues will be a met with a mixed reception. Some fans will absolutely adore it and some will use the frequently used “sold out” phrase. It was clear that the masses weren’t huge fans of their more obscure recordings, but if pleasing a crowd is their main objective over musical integrity, then Panic! At The Disco could classify their latest album as a success.