Panic! At The Disco have never shied away from the weird and the wonderful, every album has an electrifying creative spark and a wonderfully eclectic musical image. Ten years on from their delightfully emo debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, now virtually a solo band as the CD booklet says “Panic! At The Disco Is: Brendon Urie” who wrote the majority of the material and recording most of the instrumentals and backing vocals for Death Of A Bachelor.
First track Victorious is bursting with ego and is about as party anthem as Panic! At The Disco get, flamboyantly attractive, a true body mover and a wonderfully lavish album opener. Sampling B-52’s Rock Lobster for Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time on the surface seems odd, but is actually well put together and along the same lines as Victorious it carries the feel good anthemic vibe. Hallelujah is a slick take on gospel goes pop and proves Urie’s vocals are on as top form as ever throughout this whole album.
The first line of Emperor’s New Clothes “Welcome to the end of eras” beckoning a more subtly put entrance into the Death Of A Bachelor and beyond. The track, with a chorus that certainly packs a punch, spooky in nature and gesturing a story line of a bachelor gone crazy on power. Urie describes himself as being very influenced by Frank Sinatra for this album process and title track Death Of A Bachelor hits the nail on the head. Hip Hop beats weaved into jazz instrumentals however make for a very intriguing track.
If Crazy = Genius, as the song says, then this album is very smart indeed. Who knew one of the pioneers of modern day emo could create a Frank Sinatra influenced album with the same feel good, buoyant and dance worthy tracks as their past efforts. The opening drums to LA Devotee reminisces of Vices & Virtues (2011) track Let’s Kill Tonight and creatively paints the picture of Angeles at it’s best. The Good The Bad And The Dirty has the sort of dirty stomping bass that by this point wouldn’t surprise you given the use of multiple genres in this album, the record plays as a celebration, changing of life and at the core it’s less Panic! At The Disco and more the inside of Brendon Urie’s head.
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