Two is just enough

When two members left Panic! At The Disco making a full-format band only a duo, the Panic part of the title appeared really fitting. Shortly after they grew in their confidence and recorded two brilliant albums, a true catastrophe stroke them right into the heart. Ryan Ross and John Walker spared the details and explained the whole affair as a departure due to creative difference. What could the remaining members, Brendan Urie and Spencer Smith do in dire straits like that? The answer surfaced immediately. The two decided to save the band. Now these brave men are certified to give lectures on playing like a quartet for duos. The guys simply carried on as a duet. Sure, this desperate decision raised unrest in the band’s fan regiments. What were they going to play and what were they going to sing about now that Ryan Ross, the main song-writer, was gone? Would these two be able to preserve the high execution level that marked the first two albums by Panic! At The Disco? Answers to these, as well as to many other questions, were found on the Vices & Virtues CD, released in spring 2011.

Inevitable metamorphoses on Vices & Virtues

With Ross out of Panic! At The Disco, the writing responsibilities are taken on by Brendan Urie who has always drawn the band into the pop-oriented sounding. Vices & Virtues is a big and loud like the debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, based on dance rhythms and anthem-like choruses. Yet the new CD lacks the depth and complexity possessed in full by it predecessor, Pretty.Odd. Elegant touches of sadness, slight philosophizing in lyrics and a periodically low tempo to make you think deeper are gone. Without Walker, the bass lines, he was responsible for, are now put far back, which means we can only sometimes hear them and never discern them. However, the remaining members of the band grab maximum out of their instruments giving up everything they have. Vices & Virtues is a straightforward album that rings and hails all over the place. The Ballad Of Mona Lisa, Hurricane, and Let’s Kill Tonight form a very powerful opening that can be a great start to any stadium-size concert. In the meantime, Brendan Urie feels very comfortable and willing to sing in a more intimate and trustful manner, too, like in Memories, and Ready To Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind).The acoustic piece Always is also a very good addition to this set.

The album that certifies the band’s viability

After losing two units, Panic! At The Disco were expected to simplify their music and rest on what they had already had on their previous releases. Yet Vices & Virtues is not like any of the two past albums of the American band. Working on their own, Urie and Smith did their best and outdid their personal achievements recorded earlier. Thus duet started a new chapter in the history of Panic! At The Disco in a very optimistic manner with a very convincing kind of music material. Do they need to look for the replacements to those who left the band? Seeing how well-balanced and thought-through their new album is, we can say that they find it very comfortable to work as a duo. In some particular sense, this record is a couple of steps behind the earlier releases. It does not have that many surprises and revelations. However, the confidence that burns in this music is what breeds the confidence of the band’s future.

Alex Bartholomew
28.03.2011