Panic! At The Disco is back, and as always reimagined in a brand new way. Even with the loss of another founding member, Spencer Smith, emo-pop Brandon Urie relights the flames of the old name by charging into his Frank Sinatra/Freddy Mercury roots with “Death Of A Bachelor”. In a band now turned solo project, Brandon Urie may simply be doing his own thing but what hasn’t changed is Urie’s disinterest in repeating himself.
“Death Of A Bachelor” toes the line between classic and contemporary, with staccato brass beats serving as beats paired next to bent out of whack synths. This album largely serves as an experiment for Brandon himself and to show off his charismatically operatic vocal versatility. The songs are loud and fun and serve largely to project its listener to a spooky nostalgic L.A. party scenes with ghouls, goblins, and glittery vampiric ghosts dressed up in spiffy suits and fancy dresses, all filled with seductive venom ready for their next victims. As the song "Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time" goes, “You shoulda' seen what I wore, I had a cane and a party hat, I was the king of this hologram, Where there's no such thing as getting out of hand” and “What are these footprints? They don't look very human like”.
The opening track “Victorious” surprises with its startling child-like vocals and hammers a dynamic song that’s bound to be a hit in the gym due to its power-pop status. “Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time” isn’t the title track, but essentially describes what’s happened on its front cover in which Brandon wakes up after a crazy party in nothing but his underwear. It is funky, upbeat, and combines surf-punk guitar with stomping rhythms.
Their first single, “Hallelujah” is a gospel infused rock ballad filled with regrets of lovers and parties gone past, which perfectly flows into another single “Emperor’s New Clothes”. If you haven’t seen the video, you should. In what perfectly fulfills this album’s aesthetic, Brandon Urie is possessed and turns into a full-blown demon with wings donning his new “clothes”. It’s a more adult themed version of “This Is Halloween”, and it’s perfect for it.
The title track, “Death Of A Bachelor” is where Brandon first starts to really emulate his hero, Frank Sinatra. With stuttering electronic synths, Urie croons over brass and a pounding bass beat where he talks about the irony of the celebration behind a bachelor’s death. Yet he seems to reference himself as he’s the one who’s dead, perhaps as the end of what originally was Panic, how does he live without it? To be UNdead, of course.
“Crazy = Genius” is also another weird mix between Panic’s signature chaotic sound and a jazzy Sinatra, strumming chords with a beat that could rip up any floor. In this song, Urie tries to win the heart of a woman of which is having absolutely none of him because he simply isn’t crazy enough. He could be so crazy that he could set himself on fire, but she would still think him normal. “L.A. Devotee” is the biggest love letter to crazy times and wild loving in that particular city, and features some of the poppiest soaring vocals across what is a definite highlight on the record.
Turning to a nostalgic “Golden Days” that hopes to continue dancing and having a good time even though the glory of what was is over. The swagger sputtering off a “hit-me-with-your-best-shot” in “The Good, The Bad, And The Dirty” delivers with an extreme attitude that is bound to delight. Next to last is the most electronic track off the record, “House of Memories” which surprisingly features Weezer’s Dylan Scwab. The lyrics descend into a darker tone from “Golden Days” that seems to hope that the good times last, and even if those times don’t, that when things end and relationships break off that someone just might have a good place in their “House of Memories”. This cycle is completed in the with the ending ballad, “This Impossible Year”. This song in particular (while throwing it back to "Pretty. Odd.") condemns the party lifestyle that the rest of the album appears to be celebrating.
"There's no good times, this impossible year, just a beachfront of bad blood, and a coast that's unclear. All the guests at the party, they're so insincere, they just intrude and exclude, this impossible year."
All in all as a record, "Death Of A Bachelor" is Branon Urie’s self-satisfying stab at moving on from the rest of Panic! At The Disco, looking fondly on the past but not relying on it too much. It is something completely different from the rest, and as Urie puts it, it is still his “outlet for nonchalant chaos” and serves as the end of an era. The original Panic! At The Disco is the bachelor we find dead across this album, and out comes a new monster in fancy new clothes behind a backdrop of bright yellow and dark red pastels. It's interesting and fun record that leaves longtime fans with much to think about and new ones with something brand new. It's not awe-inspiring, but it's definitely good.
Best tracks: Victorious, Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time, Emperor’s New Clothes, L.A. Devotee, Impossible Year
3.75/5
