Death of a Bachelor

Ultimately, Death of a Bachelor marks the final transformation of Panic! At the Disco from egalitarian emo band to collaborative pop band headed with singular charisma by Urie the uncontested chairman.

An unpredictable but spectacular ride through pop, rock and everything in between, it’s hard not to bowled over by Urie’s efforts yet again.

Every note here sounds like the logical conclusion to the evolution of each preceding record--a remarkable achievement.

For all of its precocious, borderline bratty moments, Death Of A Bachelor is a remarkably nuanced affair. [Feb 2016, p.95]

Panic! At The Disco’s audience may perpetually renew itself with fresh teenagers, but Urie is maturing as an artist. He takes a lot of risks on Death Of A Bachelor, all of which pay off.

On balance Death of a Bachelor is a commendable success.

Bachelor doesn’t always hit.... But Urie’s charm and willingness to maximize his songs’ pop-spectacle quotient make Bachelor an often-delightful accompaniment to 2016’s earliest, chilliest weeks.

Panic! at the Disco has always favored a style both steroidal and slick, and Mr. Urie isn’t out to reinvent it here.

At the centre of Panic At The Disco’s best album yet is Urie himself. The charisma and eccentricity of the front man, matched by his jaw-dropping vocal acrobatics sees Urie finally become the ringmaster of his own circus.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t ever capture the glittery theatrics of, say, Freddie Mercury or the impossible cool of Old Blue Eyes. Stomping tracks like “Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time” and lyrics like “Champagne, cocaine, gasoline, and most things in between” don’t really jive with half-hearted saxophones and staccato jazz flares.... Still, longtime Panic! fans will find shining moments.

Simply put, Death of a Bachelor is exactly the hot mess it wants to be. It’s been a while since I’ve heard an album that’s so divisive in its quality, so manic on one end and so lazy on the other.

The album proves itself to be as an unusual cocktail of all of the band’s previous guises--Urie might have gone mad with power, his band purged to its brittle skeleton, but when it comes together, it can still occasionally be thrilling.

The more conventional pop/rock tracks detract from his eccentric impulses and feel like compromises.

A little more glitzy polish and loads of gloppy decadence.

Death may be messy, but it’s not necessarily the end, just another explosive event.

Death of a Bachelor is hollow and shapeless.

The band would do better to substitute some more original melodies for all the wide-eyed, slickly produced gusto.