By: Stephanie Blair Copy Editor
In 2006, Panic! At the Disco’s first album, “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out,” was released. Now, 10 years later and with only one original band member remaining, their fifth album has been released: “Death of a Bachelor” (DoaB).
As a long time fan, I immediately pre-ordered upon hearing the announcement of a new album. Their last release, “Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die,” was an integral part of my senior year of high school. To say that I had high expectations of DoaB would be an understatement.
I had doubts after hearing some early releases, such as “Victorious” and “Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time,” but as a late-90s/early-2000s kid, I always listen to an album all the way through in the order it was meant to be played in before I make any judgments.
Now that I’ve had a week to listen to it in and out of order at all different times of day, I can definitively say this:
I hate this album.
Unlike previous records, the songs do not ease into each other and share a voice that is easily identifiable as the album’s theme. In fact, most of the songs don’t sound like they should come from the same artist, let alone the same record.
There are some songs that sound like old Panic! – most notably, “Emperor’s New Clothes.” Others have a pleasing, brass-heavy sound that I had hoped would permeate the album (examples include “The Good, the Bad and the Dirty” and “Hallelujah”), but that isn’t the case.
Most disappointingly, as a long time alternative fan, the majority of the tracks, including “Crazy=Genius” and “Victorious,” have vacuous lyrics with a distinct lack of the wit expected with the Panic! name and a scattered, disjointed style.
So while there are tracks that I enjoy, overall I was disappointed. This is clearly Brendon Urie using the Panic! At the Disco hype to sell what is really his first solo album, now that all of the other founding members have left.
I wanted to like you, DoaB, I really did.
