Even as I write this review I’m not sure of what to say about “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” by Panic! At The Disco. I may have owned it since before it started getting airplay, but I’m still undecided on what I think of both the record, and band. It’s catchy as the next pop-punk band, meant for a really fun time, but also is slightly more original than Panic!’s contemporaries like The All-American Rejects, or Green Day. Actually, they’re sort of like Head Automatica in a weird way. Both bands include dance elements into their music; Panic! At The Disco pulls it off better by adding more depth in terms of how much they incorporate it though. However, there are the good parts of course, but there are also the bad ones too.
The album doesn’t exactly get a solid footing in the beginning. A quick intro is followed by
“ The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage”, which the lyrics call the prologue of the album. With the lyrics Panic! introduces themselves through vocalist Brendon Urie, “Swear we’ll shake it up if you swear to listen. Oh we’re still so young, but desperate for attention”. There’s a problem though because the song is somewhat annoying. This isn’t necessarily good, even if the rest of the album is great because it’s all about the setup. It’s not a bad song, but the dance elements don’t fit in too much with the use of an acoustic guitar. Brendon immediately shows that he is fit as the singer of the band, but that’s the best thing that can come from the song.
“But It’s Better If You Do” is a song that’s even worse. It’s annoying, boring, bland and the overall worst song for the band. The insipid lyrics combined with what seems a fairly unmotivated performance by Brendon ends up dragging the song out like it’s six-minutes long instead of a short 3:25. It’s probably Panic! At The Disco’s most poppy song and the only good part about it is the end actually. Here the piano riff translates to the next song’s piano opening in such a surprising way it catches me off guard every time.
When I first listened to
“I Write Sins Not Tragedies” my first thought was, “this would be a cool single”. I didn’t think it would be one however because of, “God Damn”, being in the chorus and that might have disrupted the song if censored, but it ended up being the band’s first, popular single. It has a very strong Christmas feel to it. It’s easy to imagine a family gathered in the living room and it snowing outside. The lyrics don’t exactly portray that, however the use of the piano introducing the song is what gives it the feel. This is actually my favorite song and the one I’ll even sometimes sing along with. The guitar riffs bounce along in a way only Pop-Punk does best and combined with Brendon’s purposefully pretentious singing (especially at the end with the bridge) it guarantees further, repeated listens.
The Beatles’, “Abbey Road”, is most famous for the ending words of
“The End”, but my favorite part is how the later half flows so eloquently I think of it as the single best moment ever in music history. Panic! At The Disco actually delivers one of those moments! It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. From the fifth to seventh tracks Panic! dishes out epic pop-punk songs. Brendon can be oppressive sometimes over sing on most of the songs, but with
“Camisado” it works to his advantage. He starts the song off quietly with a piano behind him in the background, but as soon as the guitars kick in he kicks off the vocals in an almost hostile way and describes a situation that is out of control, but to not let it be of concern. The lyrics and vocals set in quite well with the music, which Panic! sometimes has a tough time with, like on the previously mentioned
“But It’s Better If You Do”.
The song immediately after
“Camisado” is by far the best song on “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out”.
“Time To Dance” puts Panic! in a position to sweep anyone who hears the song off of their feet. The nice beats of a drum machine represent the bands like of putting a dance feel into the music, but is also the most mainstream song on the record. Brendon Urie effortlessly lays down some very catchy vocals, but adds a slightly extra emotional touch that flavors the song well. The part where he yells, “When I say shotgun you say wedding, shotgun, wedding, shotgun wedding”, is the most memorable moment on “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out”. When
“Camisado” ends
“Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off” effortlessly rolls on in with a more slower pace than usual. This song is probably the most heart wrenching one, lyrically. Brendon spins a tale of a love betrayed and makes it seems almost sinister. The song is more like
“But It’s Better If You”, but slows down and picks up back and forth more quickly.
“A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” is neither excellent, nor horrible, but isn’t plain average either. It’s an album that is at least worth a few listens and contains some truly amazing moments. What it really comes down to is how open whoever the person is listening to the music is. Brendon Urie may sing too much, but his voice is enjoyable (he does not sound like Patrick Stump damn it). It’s not really a repetitive album, but other than the three songs in the middle of the record it doesn’t do much in the end to ultimately stand out above its peers and make it a necessary purchase, but it is one of the better pop-punk releases of 2005.
Pros:
+Catchy instrumentation and vocals
+
“Camisado”,
“Time To Dance”,
“Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off” make for a strange, yet epic, moment
+Fun lyrics, if somewhat silly at times
Cons:
-Brendon seems to be singing every single second and never lets the music take over
-Somewhat repetitive; doesn’t exactly meet the ‘hype’
-Bass? Who said bass was on this? Well, it says there was a bassist, Brent Wilson, but wasn’t he fired? No wonder.
3 storms in 5 teacups
