Artist: Panic! At The Disco
Album: Vices & Virtues
Genre: Pop rock
Label: Decaydance

Vices and Virtues marks the third album from Panic! At the Disco who I’m sure pretty much everyone has heard of. Sadly, the road to this release seemed overshadowed by the exit of half of the band, thus leaving front man Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith as a duo. Considering the deviation from their debut on second release Pretty. Odd, it was interesting to see how Panic! At the Disco were to mark the next part of the career.


Lead single and album opener, “The Ballad of Mona Lisa,” was released at the beginning of February- the video following shortly after- which hinted, quite heavily, at a similar tone to the group’s debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. This was a relief to some people and sufficiently drummed up a large amount of interest in Vices and Virtues.


From the outset, you know this album is going to be something memorable. “The Ballad of Mona Lisa” is the perfect introduction, completely encompassing the pace and the style with which Urie and Smith have played with for this release. There is a definite cohesion from song to song, something which makes a good album great and which Panic! at the Disco have perfected at this point.


“Let’s Kill Tonight” and “Sarah Smiles” hark back to the work on their debut (an album which is personal favorite of mine), but there is a sense of maturity and fluidity to the songs which was a little lacking on Fever. This new maturity, perhaps due to the loss of two members of the band, is perfectly orchestrated in “Ready to Go (Get Me out of My Mind),” “Always,” and “The Calendar.” These songs are wonderfully layered and Urie’s lyrical prowess really shows through.


One thing I’m still a little unsure of is the use of extended instrumental parts at the end of “Hurricane” and “The Calendar.” While not quite interludes, they seem to be a way to break up the songs. For some bands this could seem a little unnecessary, or a ploy to fill out the album, however, after a few listens of Vices and Future I was able to get my head around them and realized they were not the nuisance which I suspected them to be. After that, I was even further impressed when I realized “Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…)” includes a repeated mention of “Mona Lisa,”a move that completely ties the record together as only Panic! can.

My personal favorites on the album would be “Hurricane,” “Memories,” “Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind),” and “Sarah Smiles.” I picked these songs not just because of how downright catchy they are, but because they so perfectly reflect what I consider “pure” Panic! at the Disco. As someone who was a little apprehensive about how the newest offering from the band would be after Pretty. Odd., I was nothing but impressed with Vices and Virtues. It’s rare you hear an album in March that cracks you top 10 of the year, but I think that’s exactly what happened when I first heard this record.

Score: 9/10

Review written by: Naomi Carson

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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