Vices & Virtues (3.5/5)

Vices & Virtues is the nervously awaited third studio album from Panic At the Disco. I say nervously because their last album, Pretty. Odd. , not only lived up to its name but caused quite a controversy amongst their fans, with some of them abandoning the band forever. You see Panic’s first album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, was a fantastically bizarre combination of alternative rock, baroque pop, with a bit of punk and techno thrown in; it was a also a smashing success. Panic’s unusual musical choices and clever lyrics put their first single “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” in the top 40 in the US almost overnight, and the rest of the album went over just about as well.

On Pretty. Odd., however, Panic did a complete 180 stylistically: they kept the baroque but ditched everything else. Instead of punk guitars and drums, Pretty. Odd. featured a much lighter Beatles-esc tone, which didn’t go over well with many of their fans. I personally liked Pretty. Odd., the more I listened to it the more I found myself missing the sound of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out; doing The Beatles’ style is difficult, nay impossible, and I feel like Panic tried a little too hard to achieve that sound and lost their sound in that effort.

Now don’t get me wrong I still really like Pretty. Odd., but I am glad to say that Vices & Virtues marks the return of the edgy, strange, and dark Panic At the Disco we all fell in love with back in 2005. This new album isn’t nearly quite cynical and snarky as Fever and it still has traces of Pretty. Odd. in it, really the key difference is this: if you played a song from Pretty. Odd. for a Panic fan back in ’07, aside from Brendon Urie’s distinct voice, they wouldn’t have recognized it while Vices & Virtues is unmistakably Panic At the Disco. That being said, I love Panic At the Disco and so I love this album, just like Fever, its lovely little piece of musical candy with poppy and catchy outside and a hard alt rock center. If you loved Fever, even if you hated Pretty. Odd., chances are you’ll love Vices & Virtues as well.