Panic! At The Disco's debut will either win you over or leave you in a feeling that everything they do has been done before.I used to really like this album, and I still do, due to nostalgia, but looking back on it, it's just like someone tried to mix an emo Mr. Bungle with little bits of Daft Punk, and of course, Fall Out Boy.
PATD is made up of Brendan Urie on vocals, Ryan Ross on guitar, and to be honest, the other two members just don't even really matter at all. You can't hear the bassist's bass playing, and what's funny is, no one even knows for sure who the bassist was on this album. They claim it was a guy named Brett (if I remember right), but Brett claims he never recorded for the album and they were lying about it. Spencer Smith, their drummer, is pretty un-noteworthy too.
I will say this, though, Ryan Ross is creative for the pop-punk scene with his composing and ideas. He also seems to have recruited several talented session musicians for this album to fill it with violins, cellos, and the like.This album can be best described like I said above, an emo Mr. Bungle, some electronics that vaguely resemble Daft Punk, and Fall Out Boy's vocal style and lyric style.
Ryan Ross really is the brains behind PATD, there's no doubt about that. He is the main composer, and while not being the most talented, he has a few good ideas that aren't always executed the way he'd probably want them to be.
The album is somewhat unique in the way that the first half of the album is based around electronic music, and the second half is lead by baroque pop music. I personally think the electronic part is better and the baroque pop section, while accessible, just seems a bit pretentious to me on their part due to how they execute it.
The songs are catchy, don't get me wrong, but they can get easily annoying with time due to a few things:
The problem is, no matter what they try, they're rather basic at it. If they incorporate electronics, it's only basic beats and a few notes. Just enough to say "Hey, we're different! Like us!" and nothing more to leave a lasting impression.
Also of note is the vocals. Brendan can sing, sort of, but the whole time during the album, it sounds like he's trying so hard to be Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy. And related to the vocals, Ryan Ross writes the lyrics, and he writes so many lyrics for one song it's hard to incorporate them all, so Brendan has to literally just say them. Not sing them, but just say them. He says so many words awkwardly that it just doesn't fit. He crams in so many words into a song without actually singing them. It makes me wish Ryan had just put a few lyrics into each song so Brendan wouldn't have to go on speeches in a few of them.
I just really can't rate this higher than a 6/10. I've found bands that do what they do much better, but if you like PATD, good for you, I do somewhat, but not really much anymore.
Recommended tracks: Time to Dance
