Along with their exclamation point, Panic! at the Disco is back with their third album. A lot has changed in the P!ATD camp aside from their usage of punctuation. When the promising young group exploded in 2005 with their debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, they were a four piece and the primary lyrical songwriters were Ryan Ross and Brendon Urie. The debut album was ambitious – elaborate instrumental arrangements with lyrics borrowing from traumatic events and literary works. For their sophomore release, Pretty. Odd., the guys went a completely different direction and the vaudevillian sound was traded for a more folk rock pop sound popularized by the Beatles. Now, for their third release, P!ATD have returned to those vaudevillian roots and elaborate arrangements for Vices & Virtues. Though the genre makes it familiar, in many ways, this is a whole new band. Half of the band – singer/guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker split from the group after the sophomore release. P!ATD continued on as just Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith for the resulting Vices & Virtues. 
Knowing that history helps put some qualities of this album in perspective. Urie was the primary creative force behind the circus/vaudevillian/burlesque sound of Fever, so it makes sense that this album returns to that. It also makes sense because the elaborate arrangements with synths and strings help bury that the writing for bass and guitar lines are light throughout this record. It also explains why the drums are bigger than they ever have been on a P!ATD record – and boy, does Smith shine. Lyrically, this record has its ups and downs – that’s partly why this record would best be called a grower. They have changed and as they try to find their footing as a two-piece, some of the songs can be a little sloppy. The tight arrangements and subtle lyrics can get lost, but this is still a very catchy piece of work and simply fun.
“The Ballad of Mona Lisa” begins “Vices & Virtues,” and just as art critics and fans question what the da Vinci painting’s subject is hiding behind her smile, these lyrics beg, “Say what you mean, Mona Lisa.” It has a big chorus and those previously mentioned big drums. The piece also follows a popular P!ATD structure: a quiet bridge with mysterious piano enters around the 2.20 mark before they finish out big with a giant chorus. A singalong bit of “oh-oh-oh-oh” pretty much guarantees this will be a standout live – and judging by the Youtube videos from the bands early debut of this song support that.
The chance to singalong to an “oh oh oh” bit continues into “Let’s Kill Tonight.” A tune that almost sounds video game inspired – at time it has the building frenzy of “Tetris” and the dark mystery of the “Mario Dungeon” music. This song gives the first taste of the primary problem with this record – at times there are too many effects and the song loses direction and falls to chaos. That struggle to find a balance in the arrangement causes later pieces such as “Trade Mistakes” to just be chaotic messes. Not only are the lyrics sloppy, but the genres and influences on “Trade Mistakes” are all over the place. A string arrangement appears out of nowhere and adds nothing. At another moment, the piece almost turns into a salsa number. Then again, the chaos finds itself on “Sarah Smiles,” which goes from polka-like to rock and has just a metallic sound from the overuse of effects that puts listeners at a distance.
Fortunately, this album has several stand out tracks that make out for the messiness dribble of “Trade Mistakes” and the disenchanting “Sarah Smiles.” “Hurricane” is a track not to miss. The dynamics on this and the progression make for a catching and interesting number. “Hurricane” begins with a little bit of incidental music that sounds like leftover bits from “Let’s Kill Tonight” turned into a ringtone. Once that is away, you have a big anthem of a number. “Oh, kiss me,” Urie whispers – sure to have his female fans squealing at live shows. Then the chorus hits as big cheer, “Hey, hey, we are a hurricane. Drop our anchors in a storm.” The music is swirling – just like a hurricane and Smith’s part on the drums are impressive. He has this great rhythm he’s rolling out by getting a clacking sound from hitting the side of the drum. This song even has a killer bass line – which is something that isn’t really noticeable on other songs. Then you have to love the line that closes at the song, “You’ll dance to anything.” There’s so many possible innuendos to that and it makes the piece all that more fun. Around four minutes, the piece morphs again into a piano/brassy musical bridge. This is almost an inbetween and incidental musical bit, that it’s hard to even think of it as part of “Hurricane.” It calms down the storm of a song before entering the more reflective, slow number “Memories” – a love song gone sour that’s a lot like the plot to the film “Blue Valentine.”
The other song to be sure to catch out is “Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Head).” Just like some earlier songs on the album, there’s some great singalong “oh oh oh” moments. There’s also some beautiful string arrangements on this piece that seem more purposeful than the strings on some other tunes. It’s upbeat and motivating – it would probably do well on a workout mix. It will also probably do well in the live shows, but that’s assuming Urie can pull of the vocals. There are quite a few range leaps and bends. It would be easy to fall off pitch live, but it’d be all that more amazing when those notes are hit correctly. This again utilizes that ever popular effect of a quiet bridge that has a string tremolo buildup before a big final chorus. These guys sure now how to put that effect to good use.
Another song that’s really going to put Urie’s vocals to the test? “Always.” This acoustic ballad is the most stripped down on the album and puts Urie singing in a minor key against an acoustic guitar. The lyrics are metaphor and fairly cheesy: “I’m a fly that’s trapped in a web, but I’m thinking that my spider’s dead.” Uhh, seriously? This would almost be labeled a skipper if it wasn’t for the vocal challenge that Urie’s putting himself through and another impressive drum arrangement from Smith. There’s some beautiful clicks and bass drum accentuating this song.
The guys pick up the pace with the catchy chorus of “The Calendar,” but almost kill the momentum with “Sarah Smiles.” The album ends with an out-of-their-norm song, “Nearly Witches.” This song acts like its in a classroom with a school choir recording a burlesque radio drama with lots of crazy effects. “It’s never silent,” says Urie before one of the biggest fortes on the record. This is an interesting number that really grows on you after a few plays – partly because you find something new with each listen.
Vices and Virtues still has the Panic! At the Disco characteristic stamps, but it also does a lot of new things. The guys have been through some tribulations, but aside from a few missteps (“Trade Mistakes” and “Sarah Smiles”), they seem to have come out of their trials strong. They really found their footing with their big anthems (“Hurricane,” “The Ballad of Mona Lisa” and “Ready to Go”), so it will be even more exciting to see what their future brings.
Vices and Virtues is in stores now. Find more from Panic! at the Disco here.
Track Listing:
1. The Ballad of Mona Lisa
2. Let’s Kill Tonight
3. Hurricane
4. Memories
5. Trade Mistakes
6. Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Head)
7. Always
8. The Calendar
9. Sarah Smiles
10. Nearly Witches
