Panic! At The Disco

Death of a Bachelor

{DCD2/Fueled By Ramen}

16 January 2016

I started listening to Death Of A Bachelor in hopes that a wave of nostalgia would come. To nights spent in terrible rock clubs, singing loudly along to upbeat songs with downbeat lyrics. Panic! have always been a bit of a guilty pleasure band that no-one admits to liking but always ends up singing along to with gusto not caring if anyone notices that you know every single word to every single song.

Death of a Batchelor is the first album written by singer Brendan Urie and in some songs the change in writing style between this and previous studio albums is very apparent; none more so than in the title track. Urie has previously stated one of his main influences being Frank Sinatra and this song has all the hallmarks of a swing at this style, however it lands much closer to Buble than Ol’ Blue Eyes himself.

There is a return to Panic! style though and the catchiness of tracks such as Victorious and Emperor’s New Clothes can not be denied, however something really seems to be lacking. Whether it is the lack of the £2 snakebite in my hand and the addition of ageing 10 years causing it I don’t know, but there seems to be a lack of vehemence and fervour behind the songs, the passion, that made Panic! the band that they were.