Review Summary: Drop every pretense.
Maybe it was just the hurricane of circumstances that overcame me the last night I listened to this album. But everything just clicked, it made sense. Everything I thought about this album changed. This is not Panic's attempt to save rock and roll and ride Fall out Boy's coattails, again. This is not another attempt to get back to and embrace the more electronic elements of "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out." It is not a love letter to Las Vegas as it was advertised, it is the exact opposite. It is a condemnation of everything the city stands for. This album is trying to escape the toxic culture of Las Vegas and what it does to relationships.
This Panic's most personal, most human album yet, even though it is their most synthetic.
The instrumentation on this album isn’t a throwback to the electronic elements on “Fever,” but a full-on electro-rock progression . Black, booming, bassy polyrhythmic percussion and thick purple choppy basslines from Spencer Smith and newcomer Dallon Weekes respectively form the backbone of these songs. The bass could be considered the highlight instrument of the album, often being the most interesting thing happening if you listen for it, like on “Girls/Girls/Boys” where the bass and drums work together to form a tight and sometimes jittery groove. The real color of the songs come from the synths which switch from fluid and swirling to glitchy and playful (“Far Too Young to Die”) and the always wildly fantastic vocals of Brendon Urie and the new vocoder vocals that add some ethereal textures to his too human voice. Guitars take a backseat to the synths and the numerous background vocals this time around, but they still are still used to bring more power to the choruses and add some intensity to verses. In terms of color on this album, they are predominantly gray, but the moments of bright color, like the lime green on the chorus of “Collar Full” and the stormy blue of “Girl That You Love” and “Casual Affair.”
The lyrics of this album actually tell a rather cohesive story. It is the story of Brendon Urie becoming a man, leaving the Vegas party scene, leaving behind one night stands and cigarettes (even though he hasn't completely given those up yet) and finding long lasting love, which seems nigh impossible in a city that is famous for being in love with you for only one night. Now let me back this up.
“This Is Gospel” and “Miss Jackson” is Brendan trying to escape the scene he's in. A scene of drugs, bad influence, meaningless affairs. He searches for love, but only ends up getting a sour taste in his mouth and being abandoned by all of the Miss Jacksons. When he asks "Where will you be waking up tomorrow morning?" He isn't asking them, he's asking himself if he wants to keep searching for meaningful relationships, hoping that one of them will want to stay for more than a night. As the story progresses, Brendon tries to let go of his addictions in “Nicotine” and escape the villains in his life in “Vegas Lights.” All of these songs are definite highlights, and the album’s ten tracks keep it succinct and cut down on filler. The worst song overall is probably “Far Too Young to Die” mostly because it is too repetitive and not as memorable as the others, but is by no means bad.
“Girls/Girls/Boys,” “Girl That You Love” and “Casual Affair” also follow in this vein thematically, but are much more moody and darker, but also groovier and explosive. “Casual Affair” is in the running for best chorus on the album, along with “This Is Gospel” and “Collar Full,” which all explode with catchy colors that cut through the bleakness of their verses.
To end this album is the real best song, and possibly one of the top ten best Panic songs, despite what Watchmojo says (because ALL of their top ten song lists are bologna), “The End of All Things.” A literal left turn for the album, a piano ballad, Brendon backed up with only his robot vocal effects. As he croons over the melancholic piano, he only speaks four sentences, but they are the most important four lines of the album and put the previous nine songs in perspective:
“Whether near or far, I am always yours. Any change in time, we are young again
Lay us down. We're in love
In these coming years many things will change, but the way I feel will remain the same
Lay us down. We're in love”
As Vegas is a city of show, glitz, glamour, and fleeting romance, “The End of All Things” says so much but speak volumes about the meaning of life, love, devotion, promises, and the future, perfectly juxtaposing and ending this record.
The reason this is a classic to me is because I injected myself into the album, became the protagonist, and lived every bad romance detailed in this record, but then I found someone to devote myself to, forever. This might not be the album for you or anyone else, but there will be that record out there somewhere that becomes a part of you, and "Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!" just happened to be the album that I became a part of.
Best Song: "The End of All Things"
Worst Song: "Far Too Young to Die"
