3 Years On From the Last ‘Panic! At The Disco’ Album, We Look at What Went Wrong

Panic! At The Disco released their seventh, final, and hardest-to-listen-to album—Viva Las Vengeance—three years ago on August 19. A mix of uncreative lyricism and grating tonality, the album ranked the lowest on the U.S. charts out of all of the band’s modern albums, peaking at number 13 and matching that of their debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out.

Though it should have been the band’s ultimate culminating album, as they disbanded following the conclusion of the Viva Las Vengeance tour in early 2023, Viva Las Vengeance instead served as the lowest step down on an already descending staircase from the preceding album, Pray for the Wicked.

In this last album, frontman and solo member Brendon Urie desperately clings onto the personality trait of Las Vegas that the last three albums—Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!, Death of a Bachelor, and Pray for the Wicked—have already exhausted lyrically, sonically, and thematically. Even the most diehard and loyal fans found the new album painful to listen to as Urie attempted to be an artist he is not (i.e., Queen). Known for his live cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Urie could’ve kept his reputation intact and saved the reminiscing for the stage. He wanted an album vibe that artists like Djo did better in his most recent album, The Crux.

Exactly why Viva Las Vengeance misses the mark

Though Urie never matched the lyrical prowess of former band lyricist Ryan Ross, Viva Las Vengeance in particular boasts awkward and uncomfortable (at best) lyrics. For example, the repeating chorus of “Middle of a Breakup” features Urie melodically chanting, “Makeup sex in the middle of a breakup.” “Don’t Let the Lights Go Out” fails at any sort of tasteful innuendo with, “You’re the only one who knows how to operate / my heavy machinery.” And true to its title, “Star Spangled Banner” induces cringeworthy embarrassment with the repeated line, “Land of the brave / home of the freaks.” 

Low blows are even possibly thrown at Ross in the fourth track, “Local God,” where the song’s subject is praised for lacking fame. In the song, Urie sings, “We signed a record deal at 17,” which rings true to the band’s origin story and supports the suspicion that Ross served as the song’s muse. Ross was even gifted his first guitar in 1998, as referenced by the song. If there’s one thing Urie excels at, however, it’s composing an aggravatingly catchy melody. Despite the awful lyrics, the tunes lodge themselves in your brain for an unfortunate earworm. If only singable lyrics accompanied this.

Live-to-tape recording

Urie was always known for his impressive vocal range, but as the last song on Viva Las Vengeance suggests, he did it to death. His usual silky and effortless falsetto notes sound strained, forced, and much in need of rest. Urie previously commented that the album’s sound engineers used the same recording technique that they used to use back in the day, live-to-tape, accounting for the semi-botched sound quality. This means that the recording captured the imperfections in the performance, resulting in more retro sound while recording directly onto an 8-track tape machine. While the technique is a cool nod to the art that’s come before, one difference contrasts starkly: Freddie Mercury sounds good. Urie does not.

Another detriment to this album compared to P!ATD’s others lies in the titles. In Viva Las Vengeance, the song titles show their millennial-written timestamp and are a complete 180 from the almost poetic titles of the first two albums. For instance, compare “Sad Clown” from Viva Las Vengeance to “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage” from the band’s debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. The titles on Viva Las Vengeance could’ve shared space with “Down Bad” and “But Daddy I Love Him” on Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poet’s Department. 

Viva Las Vengeance‘s public reception

Urie’s social media controversy also dampened the popularity of the album by skewing fans’ and haters’ perception of it. Past racial, transphobic, and sexually inappropriate remarks of his resurfaced, leaving a rancid taste in the mouths of people who usually would have supported his music no matter what. This, however, doesn’t take away from the fact that the album is what it is: bad.

On the Instagram announcement post for the album, one comment by user @dumbalma reads: “Genuinely makes me so sad listening to this album because it is just so disappointing. I miss when Panic! songs had meaning and emotion behind them. Im [sic] a huge fan of their older music but I [sic] this album just made me realize that one of my favorite artists is changing is [sic] such a sad way.”

Another comment by user @coreyannan1 simply reads: “Make better music plz [sic].”

True to the comments, Viva Las Vengeance listens as an album that you don’t want to finish. Songs blend into each other, and not in the perfected transitional way of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out—more in the way that every song sounds exactly the same. The album was cringey in 2022 and even cringier now through the perspective of modernity and the rejection of similar artists like Benson Boone. Boone suffers from internet comparison to a modern day Urie because of his theatrical sound and perhaps oversaturated falsetto use. While this may have been a compliment half a decade ago, it falls flat with the sour taste left by Viva Las Vengeance. It’s an album that could’ve used more work and time, especially compared to other modern albums that achieved the sound more effectively.

P!ATD’s unexpected future

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Since the band’s breakup—if it can even be called that when it consisted of one member—Urie has kept a low profile. He and his wife Sarah welcomed their first child in February 2023, without revealing the name or gender. Urie himself additionally performed live for the first time in over two years this past February when he covered Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” for the I Love LA Eaton fire relief concert to raise money for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.

On October 29, 2024, P!ATD announced they will be headlining the nostalgia breeding grounds of the 2025 When We Were Young music festival, despite disbanding. In honor of the 20th anniversary of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, the band will play the album in its entirety. The internet broke out in speculation over whether the entire original band will return or simply Urie, as most prefer the former. Nevertheless, it’s evident that Urie needs the support after the disaster of Viva Las Vengeance, and maybe the return to their roots can erase the damage done to the P!ATD name.