By Charlie Seabolt
Panic (with or without the exclamation point) At The Disco is better known for their single “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” created the band’s third studio album released in March of 2011. Though getting to the point of a third album was a little rocky to say the least.
July of 2009 Ryan Ross, the previous guitarist and lyricist, and Jon Walker, the previous bassist left the band due to quote “embark on a musical excursion of their own.” They have their own band with a couple other guys called The Young Veins. Ross and Walker leaving left Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith, the drummer of the band, to continue with Panic! At The Disco. And the new album album is somewhat based on the departure of the two band members.
Vices and Virtues as received mixed reviews. Positive reviews most likely coming from avid Panic! Fans such as myself, who have long awaited this album since “Pretty. Odd.”, the band’s sophomore album. I was very excited to hear about what the sound was going to be. The negative reviews seemed to only address one thing, the inexperience of Brendon Urie, the lead vocalist, as a lyricist, due to the fact that Ross was the main lyricist of the band before he left. Urie wrote two songs with Walker on “Pretty. Odd.”
The album has the overall sound that is much like their first album, “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out”, which has the “big band” feel to it. As for the lyrics, it, and contrary to many negative reviews, contains much of the precision as Pretty. Odd. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Ryan Ross’ guitar appearance in the song “Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…)” and that Ross also composed some of the songs. This is very heartwarming to a longtime fan, this shows that these musicians are still good friends.
I have high hopes for this band, and I am awaiting them reuniting in the future. I was initially worried about this album, but I was very happy with the outcome. Good work boys!
The Cub 