Etcetera OG ✎ COMPLETE

; panic! at the disco "pray for the wicked" album review

         I've come a long way since Death of a Bachelor was released.

         To be fair, it's been three years, which is...wild. I remember writing my review for that album like it was only a few months ago, even though at the same time it feels like a decade since Panic! last released new music.

         Anyway, in my DOAB review I said something about just starting to catch up on Panic!'s discography – I was mostly only familiar with DOAB and TWTLTRTD and then a few singles from the older three albums. Now, I like to think I'm pretty caught up. I've heard everything Panic! has released so far, I love all of it, I've seen them in concert (last summer...the time of my life), am seeing them in concert again soon, so...yeah. I'm a Certified Panic! Fan now. Yay me.

         This is definitely not a first-listen review. I've been doing those recently and I love doing them, but with Panic!'s music I think it serves us all better to have really properly given everything a fair shot. I like taking the time to try and hear everything each song has to offer so that I have things to say about them. So yeah, I've heard all these songs several times.

         Quick tangent: my pre-order bundle finally came in the mail today, and the album artwork is even more gorgeous in person. The color palette...A+

         Alright, let's get to it.

01: (F*CK A) SILVER LINING – 9/10

This was the first song from Pray For The Wicked I ever heard, and please know that the entire opening chorus had me completely baffled. For some reason, my brain could not make sense of the tune at all, so it sounded like a mess of brass instruments and Brendon shouting expletives with no real direction. But as soon as it was over and we heard a verse, when the chorus came back around a second time I finally understood it. I have no idea why it took me a minute the first time, but once it clicked, I remember sitting there and being like...it's really happening, isn't it? We're really here in this new era. Personally, I love this as an opening track. I love it as a track, period. Apparently there are some Panic! fans who turn their noses up at this one (*cough* see my most recent couples therapy post *cough*), and I can't figure out why. It's the prelude to the story this album tells, like the opening number of a Broadway musical, and without it PFTW would be incomplete. Favorite lyrics: It's coming up cherries on top

02: SAY AMEN (SATURDAY NIGHT) – 9/10

If "Silver Lining" is the opening number/prologue of a musical, then this is the real first number – the first chunk of the story. I love the storytelling in the verses, and I think this is probably the song with the most lyrics? It's very past-Panic! if you know what I mean. PFTW definitely has a different vibe than the last five albums, and that might put some older fans off if they really prefer the old sound, but they should still find a little of that here. I heard this song right after "Silver Lining" that day he released them both, and I will say that at the time I liked "Silver Lining" a little more probably because it sounds newer. I love Panic!'s old sound, but I love hearing growth too, and while there's a little bit of it here, I could also stick this song in the middle of Death of a Bachelor or Vices & Virtues and it'd fit perfectly. So I was more excited about "Silver Lining". Now, of course, I've had plenty of time to understand its importance to PFTW's narrative, and the music video is bomb. And that note at the end? Iconic. Favorite lyrics: And every morning when I wake up / I wanna who I couldn't say I'd ever been