The Rewind

Today we take a look at the final album from Panic! At The Disco, Viva Las Vengeance. This was an album that left many people including myself extremely divided. The album was surrounded by a lot of controversy. 

The controversy was mostly centered around Brendon during the run of the album and the tour that followed. Allegations from the past began to come up again. Sexual assault, racist comments, transphobia, and more. Allegations that, in my opinion, shouldn’t be ignored, and they weren’t. They were talked about at length and they left a lot of people at odds. Do we separate the art from the artist? People still feel that it is okay to support The 1975 even though Matty Healy is a blatant racist, should we take this route? I won’t lie, I was at odds too, and in a lot of ways I still don’t know what to think. As you see with actors in movies, the talk of allegations ended up going on the backburner once the reviews came in. It is an unfortunate thing, but that is usually the way the entertainment industry works.

When the reviews began to come out there was a significant amount of criticism. Many people felt it was unfinished, rushed, samey, and phoned in. The Panic! stans defended the album as many stans do, saying it was his best, a fantastic sendoff, and that they didn’t care if people liked it. 

When it gets down to brass tax, the album isn’t very good and the criticism that surrounded it was justified. I continuously lost my place while listening, constantly having to look at what song I was listening to. Nearly every track made me feel like Brendon Urie thought he was the smartest person in the room, really pushing that theme home on the song ‘Local God’. Confidence is key no matter what you’re doing in life, but too much can turn you into somebody who sounds bitter when they don’t get what they’re used to and Brendon was exhibiting an intense bitterness for the entire album. The lyrics are also littered with small instances of micro-misogyny and an amount of braggadocio that has no place when your album is as disappointing as this is. And I'm sorry, are we still using "slitting my wrist" as a lyric? Brendon you have a lot of fans, some who may have mental health issues, this is a bad look in my opinion.

Thankfully, this album has one thing going for it and that is production. Most people disliked the production, however I loved it. I have a small background in audio and when you record something live on an 8-track tape machine I’m giddy. The album captures a retro vibe and does it well, it really is the only polished thing about the album.

By the time the final song came on I had already been asking myself if it was over yet. After I listened to a little over a minute of the song I couldn’t do it anymore. I turned the album off.

It is a shame that it had to end like this for Brendon. Panic! officially became the Brendon Urie show after Vices & Virtues, but the signs were already there that eventually, there was going to be a downfall. Brendon couldn’t capture the magic that original songwriter Ryan Ross could, even with Goldfinger’s John Feldman helping Brendan write lyrics. 

Am I happy that I revisited the album? I can say without question I am, however I can also say without question that I will never go back to the album again. Panic! At The Disco has been a favorite band of mine for about eight years. I would rather remember them for A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out and Pretty Odd than for Too Weird To Live and Viva Las Vengeance.

Honestly, don’t rewind this one. 

Copyright 2024: All Writing Owned by Justin Grevencamp (Atonal Asides Blog)

All images of album covers used are for free use under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976