Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Panic At The Disco, Fueled By Ramen/DCD2 Records, Atlantic Records 2018.
Panic At The Disco’s previous album, Death Of A Bachelor, was a really good album and gained a nomination for Best Rock Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards after debuting at #1 on the Billboard Chart.
As a consequence, there are high hopes that Pray For The Wicked will go one place better than Death Of A Bachelor and win the Grammy this time.
My initial reaction was that it wasn’t as good as Bachelor, but I stress that I’ve only given it one listen.
The first single, Say Amen (Saturday Night), is extremely catchy and is already racing up the singles charts followed by the second single (f**k A) Silver Lining) and there is an ample supply of future singles on the album.
In fact, my reticence about the album is that it’s too poppy, too commercial.
To my ears, the best track on the album is Roaring 20s, which is probably the least commercial.
Not that it’s alternative, it’s still laden with pop hooks.
The album was written by Brendan Urie, the lead man for Panic At The Disco, in the months following his starring role as Charlie Price in the Broadway hit, Kinky Boots, and he rates the album as the most enjoyable experience he’s ever had making an album.
There is a little more theatricality to the disc, swathes of brass and lush production, than I remember from Bachelor. That maybe as a consequence of his theatre experience.
The album’s not my cup of tea but I might change my opinion after a few more listens.
