No Need to 'Panic!' About "Vices & Virtues"

The Las Vegas based Alternative meets Classical band, Panic! At the Disco returns with a brand new album and even fewer members.  Panic! At The Disco which started out life as a four piece band back in 2004, has come a long way since then.  The band first emerged into the mainstream with 2005’s “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” and gained stardom with their hit lead single “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies”; snagging them the covenanted VMA Video of the Year Award in ’06.  This was the THE video that made me into a Panic! fan.

Two years later, the band released their second album “Pretty. Odd.” which was a radical departure from the classical meets punk meets emo sound that they had established with their debut album (It sounded more like a Sgt. Pepper’s album instead).  They also for some bizarre and strange reason decided to remove the exclamation point from their name that same year; claiming that they never actually had one in their name when they first formed.   

A year later, the band became a duo after bassist Ryan Ross and Joh Walker issued a statement on the band’s website that they would be leaving P!ATC.  The band’s first song without Ross and Walker, “New Perspective” appeared on the “Jennifer’s Body” movie soundtrack and a video was released as well.

Being a Panic! fan since 2006, I was worried about this band leaving its roots behind as well as two of its founding members.  Even though I enjoyed the singles off 2008’s “Pretty. Odd.”, it just didn’t sound like the band that I was introduced to after seeing the video for “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” for the very first time.  So imagine my surprise and concern when I discovered that they would be releasing a new album called “Vices & Virtues” after I randomly flipped the channels to MTV Hits (or “the only MTV channel that actually plays music videos") and saw the video for their newest song “The Ballad of Mona Lisa” playing. (Check out all of the references to “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” in the video! J)

All I can say is if this song is any indication of what the rest of the album may be like, then I REALLY can’t wait for it to drop on March 22^nd!  It looks like Panic! At The Disco is finally back and it’s definitely great to have them back again!