An Album a Day is posted 5 days a week, Monday-Friday
Today we are looking at an album that really skirts around the borders of Pop and Rock music. While this band is traditionally considered a rock band, this album in particular has more of a Power Pop sound. Nonetheless, today we are looking at Death of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco, which could be more appropriately called Brendon At The Disco as lead singer Brendon Urie is the only remaining member of the band. Everything on this album is Urie except for the brass section and the drums on Hallelujah.
Given that this entire album was written and performed by one guy and a brass section it should be no surprise that the album is very consistent with each song fitting in with the rest. From the contemporary radio rock tracks Victorious and Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time to the pseudo Gospel Hallelujah and modern Big Band title track, everything flows together perfectly. Urie mixes old and new throughout, with elements from everything from Big Band, Power Pop, Classic Rock and Hip Hop.
The mix of genres and eras lends most of the album a timeless feel, with the only thing betraying it’s modernity being the use of hip hop drum machines at various points. The only real weak track is Victorious, which is a good song it's just not as good as the rest of the album. The standouts for me include Emperor’s New Clothes, Death of A Bachelor and The Good, The Bad and The Dirty.
Emperor's New Clothes is a powerful if a bit darker sounding track that shows off Urie's range incredibly, having him go from restrained low end vocals on the verses to belting at the top of his range on the chorus. This is an example of how to blend a brass section into a rock song perfectly, as they mix effortlessly with the guitars and synths. The drums, while simple, hit so hard that they drive the power of this song home brilliantly.
The title track Death of A Bachelor has Urie adopting a Sinatra esque croon on the verses and part of the chorus before building up to some incredible falsetto singing on the back end of the chorus. The music throughout is a blend of hip hop drum machines and a classic big band brass section. The bridge also features a pseudo drop where the brass section fights it out with a booming synth bass in a perfect mix of new and old.
The Good, The Bad and The Dirty is another example of how this album blends modern Hip Hop and Big Band together perfectly. The mix of tuba and synth bass on the verses over the top of some backing synths splits the difference between a Trap beat and an old school marching band. On the chorus the guitar and heavier drums come in, adding a rock flavor on top of the other elements. As usual Urie’s vocals are on point throughout, as working solo seems to have given him even more freedom to let his voice run wild throughout this entire album.
I love this album, as it shows how good Pop elements can sound when done right and with effort put into them. Rather than simply phoning it in with auto tuning and nothing but synths, Urie instead not only hired a brass section but recorded numerous layers of each of the other instruments himself. Looking back I have to wonder if Urie working inside a band might have only been limiting him as, in my opinion this is the most mature and excellent album Panic! At The Disco have ever done.
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