Panic! At The Disco - Vices & Virtues
Released March 22, 2011
Brendon Urie, Spencer Smith
Emo pop, Pop Rock
Intro
Well here it is, the beginning of the end. As you can see in the personnel list half the fucking band is gone. Surprisingly enough the guys who left did it willingly. However judging by the poor reception and loss of their best songwriter and lead guitarist in Ryan Ross (Turns out he wrote 90% of pretty odd) this move definitely did damage to the band in more ways than one. So anyways that's all the history you are gonna get for this one because I am NOT excited for this one. With that being said this album does have my number one favorite panic song on it, hurricane, but lets get to that when its time.
This is also the second to last album released while Panic was a band and not just the Brendon Urie Show. Oh well though because apparently Brendon is good enough on his own to release a genre-defining album in Death of a Bachelor, which is not the worst thing ever after a re-listen and one of the biggest songs EVER in High Hopes, which I hate with a passion. Fuck That song and Fuck EA for making it the theme of NHL 19.This album is MUCH better than I expected after seeing its backstory and events that lead up. We also got some cameo appearances from site favorites in this one.
This is an Emo Pop album with heavy Punk influences but nowhere I can really call it Punk, its just too poppy. The instrumentals are great and so are the vocals.
Smash Or Pass?
The Ballad of Mona Lisa- SMASH. This sounds like Fall Out Boy. Like a BLATANT ripoff. HOWEVER. this is a GREAT ripoff. MY GOD is Urie a Good guitarist. This is a Punk song no question in my mind. I've gotta check the writing credits because this sounds like something a REAL punk band would write. WELL. I FOUND WHY. THE FUCKING SINGER OF GOLDFINGER WROTE THIS LMAOOOOOO. Fuck you John Feldman why can I never escape you lmao. Anyways this song is great. Amazing start.
Let's Kill Tonight- Smash. This is not as good but is still great. Urie is such a good guitarist why did he ever stop. Anyways this song feels way more boring but I had to research something and I was right. we will get to that soon though.
Hurricane-SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. OK anyways yeah this song is fucking amazing but I have proof as to why. According to Wikepedia the writers of this song are "Urie- Smith- FELDMAN" YOU MOTHERFUCKER JOHN FELDMAN WHAT THE FUCK NO WONDER THIS SONG IS AMAZING. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS SONG IS GREAT. The vocals are AMAZING, The instrumentals are INCREDIBLE, especially the guitar. Just listen to this song. Sadly this song is only about 3 and a half minutes despite it being 4:25 on the track listing, long ass ending leading into the next track.
Memories-SSMAASSHH. This song sounds like if someone wrote lyrics to a Pokemon credits song and its great. they are very Emo sounding but 0 complaints from me. The instrumentals are amazing again and the vocals sound great.
Trade Mistakes-This song sounds like someone made FOB but nor FOB. Well no wonder, Pete Wentz wrote these lyrics. He literally wrote EVERY major FOB song. Anyways yeah this song is great again. This is MUCH more of an emo album than the last 2.
Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)- Smash. This is a VERY poppy track but its fine, this is a pop album supposedly. Its a cross between FOB and early 21 pilots with just a bit more electronic. Not bad at all. Also shoutout to Limp Bizkit, they have a song called Ready to Go and it fucking slaps, even has a Lil Wayne feature.
Always- Smash. This sounds like Disenchanted by MCR with more upbeat vocals and a higher tempo. Not a bad thing I just wasn't expecting it. This is the most pop song I have ever heard while still being rock. Why does this all sound like Pokemon music?
The Calendar- SMASH. This has HEAVY Goldfinger vibes especially with the guitars and the lyrics are 100% stolen from FOB. No wonder both Wentz and Feldman worked in the writing of this one. That being said this song is great. it captures the BEST parts of those bands and the aspects im starting to enjoy from panic, mostly Urie's guitar work and vocals and the drumming is GREAT. That really disappoints me though moving forward knowing that there is ONE more album that has all of this then its down the drain with Egotistical Pop Star Ass Job Brendon "Notice Me Daddy I'm Famous" Urie. I'm gonna enjoy this while I can though. The ending of this song sounds like Last Ride In by Green Day, cool little instrumental.
Sarah Smiles- Smash. Why does this song sound like its gonna break into Urie ranting? Well he's not ranting but I don't think he's a big fan of how "Sarah" treated him. This is a very FOB sounding breakup song, which is funny because only Feldman helped with this one. Good song.
Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...)- Smash. Ew French opening. Jk. However this sounds straight off the Pokemon X & Y soundtrack just with vocals and punk guitars. These lyrics are weird as fuck but oh well, Urie has to have atleast one song per album that makes me question my choices in life because a man singing about shooting up perfume like heroin makes MILLIONS. Cool return to the first song on the album, Revolution Radio vibes with that.
Conclusion
Well that was surprising, back to back Panic reviews that I actually enjoyed. This album is great and really makes me sad knowing how this progresses in the future. Oh well though at least I listened to this and confirmed nothing comes close to Hurricane. With that being said though this album is GREAT. Is it better than Pretty. Odd.? Yes. Purely because of Hurricane. Adding to that though I am gonna dock points for the simple fact that Urie wrote ONE of these songs without assistance from an industry legend in John Feldman or Pete Wentz, sometimes even both.
RANK: A
If Urie wrote more of these songs himself then this would EASILY be an A+ or maybe even an S- but pawning off the work to legends like Feldman and Wentz take away. It was ok that he didnt write much on the last 2 because he had a band MEMBER writing them in Ryan Ross. Anyways I'm now 2/3 on liking Panic albums with only 4 left to go I believe (TWTL,TRTD - Death of a Bachelor - Pray for the Wicked - and Viva Las Vengeance)
Enough ranting lets end this thing. Thanks for reading and as always Feedback is welcome and appreciated. And so are album requests, just preferably rock or rock related projects. The closer to Punk or Metal the better.
-Jake (JunosBestFriend)
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