★★★½
If anyone thought Frank Sinatra was purely a voice of a time gone by, they clearly have not met Brendon Urie.But Panic! At The Disco’s latest album is not all lounge room balladry.
With Urie as the sole creative orchestrator behind the project, the listening experience reflects a man completely let loose in a library of musical references. Lush pop melodies are littered across the release, with lyrical cliché and slightly cringeworthy phrasing found in ‘Crazy=Genius’. Opener ‘Victorious’ (with cheerleader chants to boot) and ‘LA Devotee’ are even more grating culprits.
But the real beauty is the instrumentation. The pulsing beats on the swaggering ‘Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time’, and the slick and sinister single ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’, add a compelling hip hop presence, while ‘Golden Days’ and ‘Hallelujah’ act as the most direct descendants of the rock lineage that birthed them. The true gem comes at the close, with ‘Impossible Year’ honouring Sinatra in a simple ballad with soaring string and horn arrangements. Death Of A Bachelor is an album full of contradicting styles. But the true thread is Urie’s unmistakable vocal power, adapting to each context with ease.
So much vocal prowess in one person should surely be made criminal.
Panic! At The Disco’sDeath Of A Bacheloris out on Fueled By Ramen/Warner.
