Rocky Return of P!ATD


Brendan Urie is a great vocalist and front man.  He is the sole remaining original Panic! member and has been dutifully keeping the brand alive by delivering inspired live shows and a steady flow of new music.  However, in a nutshell, the new Panic! At The Disco album, Death Of A Bachelor, is cripplingly uneven.  The greatest flaw of the album is that the albums worst songs all hit at the beginning of the album.   “Victorious,” “Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time,” and “Emperor’s New Clothes” come off as substance-lacking Fall Out Boy throwaways.   “Hallelujah” is the exception to this on the album’s opening with its sampling of Chicago “Questions 67 and 68” and catchy chorus.  So if you wade through the garbage at the front of the album, you actually hit some good stuff.  
  
Urie’s love of Sinatra is a good thing.  He lets that flag fly on the album’s title track as well as on the closer “The Impossible Year.”  Then, you also get your more traditional Panic! songs with fun jams like “LA Devotee,” “Golden Days,” “House of Memories” and “The Good, The Bad And The Dirty.”  It’s in these songs that the merit of Death Of A Bachelor comes through.  This album is probably the band’s least compelling album, but there are enough redeeming moments for us to not write Urie and Co. off.  
  
Essential tracks: “Golden Days,” “Hallelujah,” and “House of Memories.”

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