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Album Review: P!ATD - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:03 am
by ukevents
Panic! At the Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out [2005]



Originating from Las Vegas, Panic! At the Disco were founded by Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz after placing their music demos on the internet. Before they had even played a live show, PATD were signed to a major record label with a recording contract already under their belts. The band has risen to stardom extremely quickly; many believe (and some often criticise) that this is because of their established link to the highly popular band that helped to get them signed in the first place.

However, PATD's album is nothing like anything that their fellow label bands produce. Vocalist Brendon Urie, guitarist Ryan Ross and drummer Spencer Smith were all born and raised in Las Vegas, therefore their sound is heavily influenced by the surroundings and the culture that they were brought up in. Due to this, many people find it hard to establish an exact genre for the band; some call it rock, others call it pop. I like to call it 'unique.'

'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out' is the debut album from PATD which is soon to be followed by the sophomore album which is currently untitled and the release date is to be announded at a later date. All of the album was written and composed by guitarist Ryan Ross. He tells of his life's trials and tribulations (such as a nasty break up with his two-timing girlfriend in "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" and his father's alcohol abuse in "Camisado" and "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks"), but portrays them in hidden depth as he does not want to make it too obvious. Ryan Ross also named the titles with quotes out of books and movies; none of the song titles appear in the actual songs themselves.

Unlike many other artists, including their founders, Brendon Urie and his bandmates decided to split the album into two halves. This is obvious as we are given an 'Introduction' track right at the very beginning and an 'Intermission' track during the middle of the album.

The first track, "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage", was released as a single, but no video or CD was ever released. It is a fast paced, catchy song that evidently got people interested in the rest of their music. However, none of the songs appear to follow any sort of similarities. Whilst the first half is more 'dance' music, the second half takes on a different appeal which is where we can tell that the band was influenced by Las Vegas. As Brendon Urie and Ryan Ross can both play numerous instruments, they take this to their advantage and use other instruments such as pianos, keyboards, organs, chellos, etc. This is not usually associated with the rock genre in which they are described. Nonetheless, the band still have a heavy sound all the way through the album and every single song will stay in your head for the rest of the day. It will leave you longing to listen to it over and over again until you know the words off by heart.

Significant tracks include: "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", "But It's Better If You Do" and "Build God, Then We'll Talk." This being said, in my opinion, every song on this album is worth listening to.

Visit http://www.panicatthedisco.com or http://www.myspace.com/panicatthedisco to hear their tracks.

Review by Leanne Austin (29/06/07)