If there’s anything to be said about Panic! At The Disco it’s that they aren’t afraid to try new things. Each of their three records up to this point have sounded drastically different. But you know what, they probably don’t really care which one you like more or why. With that in mind, the band’s fourth record, the long-titled Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die, takes yet another step away from previous material. 

Demographically, this record sort of sounds like the band started down a similar path of Vices and Virtues before quickly veering down a more dance/dubstep inspired path (Side note: this is where I apologize if I am an idiot – I do not listen to dubstep, so I am only speculating that some of the instrumentation is dubstep-influenced). The explanation for this path reasoning comes very early with singles “This Is Gospel” and “Miss Jackson.” Both of these tracks basically take the pop sensibilities of Vices – I’m looking at tracks like “Memories” and “Ready To Go” – and pick up where they left off. “Whoa-oh-ohs,” repetition, and bombastic choruses start this record off on a note of addictive pop tunes.

This is what you wanted, right? A “return to form” – i.e. slick pop layered over synths, the occasional crunchy guitar and a weird fascination with Vaudeville (despite none of us knowing what that really means) – yep, this is you getting what you wanted. And although getting what we wanted can sometimes lead to felonies or regrettable Zune tattoos (R.I.P.), in this case what we wanted is what’s best for us and both remaining members of Panic!(!) At The Disco. With Vices & Virtues, Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith have created an album that isn’t mature, because what does that even mean, but an album that understands from its first note where it’s going and the best way to get there. 

Oh how it’s been so long, we’re so sorry we’ve been gone. 
We were busy writing songs for you. 
You don’t have to worry ‘cuz we’re still the same band.

Those are the first words uttered by Panic At The Disco’s Brendon Urie on “We’re So Starving,” the opening track of his band’s second album, Pretty. Odd.. 

Good joke guys, gooooood joke.

If you’re looking for hyperactive vocals paced by synths, Pretty. Odd. is not the album you’re gonna play, because it seems that the Las Vegas quartet have sweated out that fever known as the dance-rock trend. Instead, guitarist/lyricist Ryan Ross spent his spare time going to garage sales and scourging for as many Beatles and Beach Boys records he could find and reinvented his writing style. Instead of using witty pop culture references as a basis for his lyrics, Ross’ style on Pretty. Odd. is sometimes insightful, sometimes infuriating, but mostly just nonsensical (he seems to enjoy moons). 

Let’s just get it out of the way: Panic! At the Disco sounds like Fall Out Boy. Extraordinarily so. And it certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed: “Is this Patrick Stump’s side project?” and “I honestly thought this was Fall Out Boy playing a joke on people until they started playing shows” are common replies in news posts here regarding the band. You get the idea. Let’s just accept the fact that they’re a bit derivative (hell, they christened themselves after a line in the Name Taken song “Panic”), and go from there.

There has been a shit-load of buzz regarding Panic!: their idea of posting clips of songs from the album on Purevolume on Fridays and full versions on Tuesdays has almost necessitated a good many news posts on AP and on other webzines, which in turn has really put their name out there and gotten people talking about them. Here’s the thing though—people wouldn’t care talk about them unless they were really good, or really bad. And they’re not really bad.