By KATIE KIERSTEAD
Arts Editor
From their first baroque-emo album right out of high school to their newest artistic venture over ten years later, Panic! at the Disco have never shied away from stylistic change.
After rolling out three singles–empowering anthem “Victorious,” gospel-inspired rock tune “Hallelujah,” and the haunting but driving “The Emperor’s New Clothes”–Panic! is announcing the “end of eras” with their latest release, “Death of a Bachelor,” set to drop Jan. 15, 2016 via Decaydance and Fueled by Ramen.
The artwork for the band’s fifth studio album, the band’s first with only Brendon Urie remaining, features a completely different aesthetic than anything Panic! has presented before. It’s spacey, creepy, almost trippy. Everything that has been heard from the album so far is awesome but seems inconsistent–the three songs have totally different vibes that I’m not sure will make for a cohesive album experience.
Frontman and creative powerhouse Urie explains that his inspiration for the album comes from the “times [he] spent alone as a kid,” where he would excitedly learn songs by ear and play on makeshift laundry-basket drum sets.
“I jumped between all of these instruments constantly to satisfy the ideas I heard in my head. At this young age, I realized that music would play a huge part in my life. I had no idea.”
The music video for “The Emperor’s New Clothes” depicts Urie dramatically transforming into a creature resembling Satan. He boasts huge horns, sharp fangs, and scaled grey skin, dancing around singing skeletons, the shaky camera frequently changing angles to inspire terror at Urie’s devilish persona. (And just in time for Halloween!)
Panic! have always had some sort of element of shock factor in their music, whether it be the elaborate 19th century carnival-cabaret production of their first live performances or the utterly unexpected Beatles-esque vibe of their second album, “Pretty. Odd.”
“Evolution is a phrase tossed about by most artists but the leap from “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” to “Mad As Rabbits” was, and is, astounding,” writes blogger Ali Shutler. The band had traded in their eyeliner and top hats for a more sophisticated sound straight from the 1960s for their sophomore album. They even dropped the exclamation point from their name for that era. It was like a completely different band.
That kind of drastic change is something characteristic of Panic! at the Disco. With each album comes a new sound and a new image. Panic! in 2015 doesn’t resemble its 2005 self any bit. The band have grown immensely in many different ways, and they’re still going strong.
Though critics might be confused by Panic!’s inconsistent career, many fans continue stick around just to see what will happen next. The music is different now, but that’s okay: the fans are growing, too.
Panic! aren’t just changing their image to keep up with the times-it was never their intent to be the most popular thing around, anyway. Rather, the band is just evolving as its members find the directions their lives are going.
Panic! has become something of a solo project for Brendon Urie as his former bandmates departed for artistic differences or mental health recovery, among other reasons.
With a new album comes a new era. Panic! have already delved into the intellectual carnival-cabaret world with “Fever,” time travelled to the peaceful 1960s in “Pretty. Odd.,” revived their anthemic hooks in a steampunk fashion for “Vices & Virtues,” and come back to life with the luxurious, Vegas-inspired “Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!”
With the upcoming release of “Death of a Bachelor,” a new era is imminent. It’s hard to tell exactly what it will consist of, but for now fans are trying to put the puzzle pieces together and figure out where Panic! is going next.
