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Panic! At The Disco – Pray for the Wicked

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Jun 22, 2018.

  1. Melody Bot Jun 22, 2018
    Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    “Are you ready for the sequel?” sings Brendon Urie confidently on the third track, “Hey Look Ma, I Made It,” and if Panic’s rabid fan-base is any indication, they are more than ready for whatever Urie has in store for them. On Panic! At the Disco’s sixth album, Pray for the Wicked, Brendon Urie is clearly having a blast and is 100% comfortable with who he is as not only an artist, but as a person as well.

    Produced by Jake Sinclair (Fall Out Boy, Weezer), the sheen and textures found on this LP are polished, but not over-produced. Coming off the successful and Grammy-nominated Death of a Bachelor album, Panic! is well equipped for the demands being put forth by their eager audience. If Death of a Bachelor was the self-reflective album of Urie’s career, then Pray for the Wicked is the full-blown party album.

    Panic! gets things started on the right foot with the blazing “(Fuck A) Silver Lining” that sounds straight out of a Vegas show-tune with the usual Panic-flair. Urie says that, “Everything is coming cherries on top,” which leads me to believe he is having the time of his life and all is right in his world. The lead single, “Say Amen (Saturday Night)” is vintage Panic! material, with its theatrical build up to a massive sing-a-long chorus. The song also features some impressive falsetto vocals towards the end of the track that were tested out multiple times in Panic’s live album released earlier this year.

    “High Hopes” sounds as much like a Fall Out Boy song as humanly possible without his buddies coming in to collect royalties for the song. “Roaring 20s” finds Urie reflecting on his age, and possibly the endless touring he has experienced, while singing in the chorus, “This is my roaring, roaring 20’s/I don’t even know me/Roll me like a blunt, ’cause I wanna go home.” Even though Urie may be getting a tad fatigued by his rock-star career choice, he seems to find the silver linings in each of the situations he describes on this album.

    On “Dancing’s Not a Crime,” Panic! is on a mission to get everyone moving, and this track will likely be a crowd favorite on their upcoming tour. One of my favorite songs on the album is the recently-released single “King of the Clouds,” since it sounds like a R&B track on steroids, and is backed by a stellar horn section to make it reach the heights it was intended to.

    The surprising choice of a beautiful piano ballad to end this album called “Dying in LA” redeemed this album in a lot of ways for me. For starters, it helps balance the overall energy of the earlier tracks and showcases the talent to Urie truly has as not only a singer, but as an accomplished musician and artist.

    Overall, Panic! does not cover too much new ground on this album, but they put forth a consistent message of looking for the “good” when times around us are feeling rough. Although I didn’t enjoy this album as much as the brilliant Death of a Bachelor, there are still enough rewarding tracks found on this album to keep me coming back to the “party.”

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  2. DearCory Jun 22, 2018
    DearCory

    Regular

    Pretty solid review. The album lulls a little bit for me in the middle, but with a super solid beginning and ending. I don't entirely agree with the FOB reference...I think you have it flipped. Instead to me it sounds straight up like a Panic! song... but one that FOB would try to write (if that makes sense? It's late.)

    Overall, I love that nothing else out there sounds like this, and think this album just solidifies his genre and generational transcendence even more.
     
  3. Drew Beringer Jun 22, 2018
    Drew Beringer

    @drewberinger / we dogs Moderator

    Record rules - nice review
     
    Jason Tate likes this.
  4. theredline Jun 23, 2018
    theredline

    Trusted Supporter

    This is one of those bands where there’s only one original member so is it really Panic? Kinda like Goldfinger. Their last record was great but it was just Feldman. Granted, some would say Goldfinger was always just Feldman. But it’s weird. At what point is a band more than just its members. Or is a band nothing without its members? It’s interesting. If there is only one original member can you even consider it the band anymore? Always curious why he didn’t just go solo. Or is he just worried he wouldn’t go as far with out the band name label?
     
    Frank Lapidus likes this.
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  6. somethingwitty Jun 23, 2018
    somethingwitty

    Trusted

    Haven't seen Panic since V&V tour...how much of this new material is performed live vs. playback? Doesn't sound like much live instrumentatiom on the studio versions. Does it have a different sound live?
     
  7. heymattrick Jun 23, 2018
    heymattrick

    Sending my love

    I see this statement a lot, but really, I don’t think anyone actually thinks Brendon would have anywhere close to the level of success he’s had with the Panic! name. Spencer left and it’s really been “just Brendon” for 5 whole years now (although Dan and Kenny have been around that whole time also). They’ve experienced their most successful times since then, so Brendon would be crazy to walk away from that. He’s headlining massive arena tours now, which is a level they never quite got to before.
     
  8. BigMouth Jun 23, 2018
    BigMouth

    new EP out now! Supporter

    Dying in LA was nice but I really just don't think this band is for me anymore.
     
  9. Common Conversation Jun 23, 2018
    Common Conversation

    Newbie

    Does this cover remind anyone else of perfume genius' no shape?
     
  10. AMC Jun 23, 2018
    AMC

    Regular

    Who plays the instrument on the album? Did Butch produced any of this?
     
  11. Honeymagnolia Jun 23, 2018
    Honeymagnolia

    Regular Supporter

    Awesome album and good review.

    Dying in LA is so good. Up there with my favourite Panic ballad 'Always'.
     
  12. AMC Jun 23, 2018
    AMC

    Regular

    That would be like 7-Eleven changing their name why would you? With the current name you're making money, it's a business.
     
  13. Jason Tate Jun 23, 2018
    Jason Tate

    newsletter is back Staff Member

     
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  15. somethingwitty Jun 23, 2018
    somethingwitty

    Trusted

    Haven't seen Panic since V&V tour...how much of this new material is performed live vs. playback? Does it have a different sound live?
    This sounds a lot better than the studio version. Kind of surprised theres no one doing keys/synth onstage though.
     
  16. shogunTORTOISE Jun 23, 2018
    shogunTORTOISE

    Regular

    Don't like it nearly as much as the previous release but I still enjoy it.
     
  17. aniafc Jun 24, 2018
    aniafc

    Trusted

    Not sure about the new material yet, but the DOAB songs had a whole different life when played live
     
  18. CyberInferno Jun 24, 2018
    CyberInferno

    Line below my username Supporter

    Dying in LA may be my favorite P!ATD song ever. It's so damned good. I just wish it was like 8 minutes long.
    Damn that man can sing.
     
    Essie likes this.
  19. ZeoVGM Jun 25, 2018
    ZeoVGM

    Regular

    Album is fantastic. I think it might be more cohesive than Bachelor. It also helps that half of the album wasn't released beforehand over the course of like 12 months.
     
    heymattrick likes this.
  20. Spenny Jun 25, 2018
    Spenny

    Regular

    I have mixed feelings. There are some huge highs on this album (King of the Clouds, Dying in LA, Dancing's Not a Crime, The Overpass), some pretty mediocre tracks (Roaring 20s, Hey Look Ma) and arguably the band's worst song in their career (One of the Drunks).

    I'll have to spin it a few more times to solidify my feelings, but those were my initial thoughts. To be fair, I've only spun the album as a whole twice, though those four favourite tracks and the other three songs released leading up to the album I've spun a lot more.
     
  21. BoldType Jun 25, 2018
    BoldType

    the tweets Prestigious

    I love that music is so subjective in it's observation (based on all the opinions above). I absolutely love this album. It's fine and worth playing on repeat for me.