New Album Review: Panic! at the Disco- Viva Las Vengeance

Panic! at the Disco- Viva Las Vengeance

Label: Fueled By Ramen

Producers: Brendon Urie, Mike Viola, Jake Sinclair, Butch Walker

The seventh studio release from Panic! At the Disco, and the second under its incarnation as a Brendon Urie solo project, proves to be a delicious alt-rock/pop experience, as well as their most boldly adventurous sonic statement since 2013’s Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die. That’s not to suggest that Urie has abandoned the more commercial inclinations that successfully launched the band into the mass airplay universe with the massive singles culled from 2016’s Death of a Bachelor and 2018’s Pray for the Wicked. Those elements are certainly still prominent on bangers like the title track and follow up single “Middle of a Breakup”, and especially later on the pure pop delight of the aptly titled “Sugar Soaker”. But while we never really see a return to the more progressive emo sounds of Panic’s early moments, Vengeance more than finds Urie expanding out of the middling yet satisfying MOR sound that has permeated recent albums. In many ways, the album is an exercise in blending the act’s well-known theatre-kid roots with a bevy of classic rock influences, ranging from Thin Lizzy (“Star Spangled Banner) and Queen (“God Killed Rock and Roll” and “Sad Clown”) to late-period Beatles (“Something About Maggie”). Interspersed throughout you will find some of Urie’s most captivatingly evocative moments as a powerhouse balladeer, on standouts “Don’t Let the Light Go Out” and “All By Yourself”. This record is bound to be another consecutive crowd-pleaser for Panic! At the Disco. But it should also please long-time fans who have spent the past decade or so waiting on some more stylistic risk-taking from the last man standing in one of the preeminent rock groups of the era.

Track Listing:

1. “Viva Las Vengeance” (Brendon Urie, Mike Viola, Jake Sinclair)
2. “Middle of a Breakup” (Urie, Viola, Sinclair)
3. “Don’t Let the Light Go Out” (Urie, Viola, Sinclair, Butch Walker, Janis Ian)
4. “Local God” (Urie, Viola, Sinclair)
5. “Star Spangled Banner” (Urie, Viola, Sinclair)
6. “God Killed Rock and Roll” (Urie, Viola, Sinclair, Morgan Kibby, Russ Ballard)
7. “Say It Louder” (Urie, Walker, Sinclair, Viola)
8. “Sugar Soaker” (Urie, Walker, Sinclair, Viola)
9. “Something About Maggie” (Urie, Viola, Sinclair)
10. “Sad Clown” (Urie, Viola, Sinclair, Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
11. “All By Yourself” (Urie, Viola, Sinclair, Eric Carmen)
12. “Do It To Death” (Urie, Viola, Sinclair, Walker)