An unknown fact: I've been a fan of Panic! At The Disco since the band became big in 2005, one year after they became a band. As a little kid chilling in the backseat of my mom's minivan, I'd be rocking out to their songs, oblivious to the awesomeness and meanings of their songs.
14 years and five albums later, their latest album titled "Pray for the Wicked" has topped Billboards charts in just two weeks of being released.
Intrigued by its rapid popularity, I decided to give it a listen and review the album as a whole in comparison to their previous albums.
And so, "Pray for the Wicked" became "Pray for the Fans," since we're all going crazy over this album.
The 11 song album lasts only for 34 minutes, but it is a hell of a good 34 minutes. Most of the songs, specifically Say Amen (Saturday Night) and King of the Clouds, are guaranteed to become party anthems for at least a couple years.
https://youtu.be/UKserM-i0_A
Each song is consistently building from a steady verse to a killer chorus, but the one that does it the best is definitely High Hopes. Panic! Never has the issue of the mood dropping out of the song like some other artists. There is always some sort of head-bobbing beat to go along with, but the album is definitely not their best.
I found the album to be a bit overproduced at times. Lead singer, Brendon Urie, has an incredible voice that can reach pitches that put auto tune to shame. However, some of the songs tended to overpower his voice, especially Roaring 20s and The Overpass. I found myself saying "where's Brendon?" because each song had at least one place that just drowned out his voice completely.
The only song that didn't drown out his voice was King of the Clouds. THIS is Panic! At The Disco. Part of what makes them so unique is their ability to let Brendon's voice drive the song, not vice versa.
At times, I would get whiplash from the one-strum guitar verses and intense party mood chorus. I also found myself waiting for the crash ending to their songs and got the fade out or the literal dead end. It made the song sound like it lost confidence, like they lost confidence in themselves, possibly.
The album was not a complete bust. I hold great appreciation for their use of brassy sounds we crave during an era of techno tunes. Panic! Also tried some new sounds, some of which worked and some of which failed. I also applaud them for including just enough emo-phase for the longtime fans.
Their riskiest song on this album is definitely Old Fashioned. It's got a little bit of oldies vibes with a little bit of today's sound. Some of the songs on the album also had a teeny-bopper vibe to it, I guess in an attempt to get the younger audience involved.
For me, the most loved song on this album is a tie between King of the Clouds and Dying in LA. I enjoyed the raw, vulnerable voices and classical sounds. Dying in LA is definitely not a party jam, but definitely something to enjoy when the moment is right.
Overall, I feel as though this was a slightly above-average album for Panic! At The Disco. Have they made better albums? Yes. Have they made worse albums? Yes. But is this as much of a stand out album as fans and music critics alike are making it out to be? I truly don't think so. This album is like digging for gold: you'll find a great nugget every now and then, but otherwise walk out with empty handed.
