AMS album of the week: Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!

A world away from the pop punk sound of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, Panic! at the Disco’s new album, Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!, lands us smack bang in the middle of the contemporary electro and dance scene. I’m neither surprised nor upset by this move; Panic! has always pushed the boundaries and demonstrated versatility (fingers to the second album, Beatles nay sayers). However, previously the vocals were balanced with an eclectic use of instruments and quirky sounds. Now we have a less than imaginative use of the vocoder and this album is synth’d up to its eyeballs. Ultimately, the success of this album is down to Brendon’s voice. The album begins with ‘This is Gospel,’ where he smashes us in the face with the chorus (the vocals ring true through the vocoder which is just there as a genre play thing). In round 3, ‘Vegas Lights’ with its distinct 80s and glitzy Vegas influence (a little on the nose given the name, but hey!) further sets the scene for Brendon’s vocal onslaught. In rounds 4, 5, & 6, - ‘Girl That You Love’, ‘Nicotine’ & ‘Girls/Girls/Boys’, we are fully against the ropes, bludgeoned and in awe by these tracks that are surely destined to be club anthems. In the closing round, we are put to sleep by ‘The End Of All Things’, a lyrical and poetic reminder of the softer (despite the harsh electronic tones) side of Panic! A phenomenal display by Brendon but not as impressive a Panic! collection as I might have hoped for. On to the music videos. ‘Miss Jackson’. Cult… what… huh? Anyway, the video for Girls/Girls/Boys is definitely worth a comment and a watch. Brendon, who conceded this summer that he, alongside everyone, is a little bit gay, took it upon himself to cast homage to D’Angelo’s ‘Untitled [How Does It Feel]’. Now, D’Angelo’s caramel creation is steamy and dripping in eroticism. Brendon, however, do you even lift? Bless him, for he should have done at least one push-up prior to making this music video. The one redeeming feature of the video occurs at the final chorus when Brendon flicks his hair at the camera, charged with all the emotion that wailing about girls loving both sexes naturally would result in, and that makes this writer favour the album and closer to agreeing with Brendon’s summer sentiment.