Back in 2005, Panic! At The Disco burst onto the music scene with their multiplatinum selling début ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’. Brendon Urie and Co’s penchant for theatrics captured the imagination of Emo teens the world over with their expansive vaudeville circus-rock imagery and vivid lyrics which set them apart from the mainstream rock of the day. In hindsight it may have been more Gleemo than Emo but Panic! At The Disco managed to shake things up for a while at least. Fast forward to 2013 and Panic! At The Disco have released their fourth studio album ‘Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!’ The vivid lyrics remain but the theatrics are more bijou, resulting in a more accessible, synthpop-rock leaning album. This is reflected in the album’s length with all ten songs combining just shy of 33 minutes all in.

“This is gospel for the fallen ones/locked away in permanent slumber/ assembling their philosophies from pieces of broken memories” blasts Urie in the opening lines of single This Is Gospel setting the tone for what is to come as a quizzical verse is followed by a sing-along chorus – “oh oh oh oh oh oh/this is the beat of my heart” – which seems utterly basic by comparison. This is a process which is repeated throughout the album as Panic! At The Disco try to forge big choruses around unusual verses.

Miss Jackson (also a single) occupies a Bermuda Triangle of ’90s, sexed up, boy band sheen and saccharine pop punk, repeatedly asking “Miss Jackson, are you nasty?” It’s unclear whether it’s an anthem for nymphomaniacs or a scathing attack on promiscuity. Either way Me And Mrs. Jones it ain’t. Girl That You Love has a frivolous ’80s Pet Shop Boys synthpop undercurrent which fails to yield a verse worthy of its chorus. Nicotine also falls short despite its groovy disco bassline and well-catchy melodies with laughable lyrics such as “you’re worse than nicotine” failing to hook the listener.

Girls/Girls/Boys continues the forage into disco-synth territory producing one of the most complete songs on the album with Urie sounding more at home singing “I am just a villain vying for attention from a girl” than the Nickelodeon dart of Nicotine. Casual Affair continues the more mature approach with yet another morality of sex conundrum. Far Too Young To Die completes the journey from frivolous pop to the Nevada desert soundscape occupied by fellow Vegas natives The Killers, an approach which is maintained quite successfully throughout Collar Full. The End Of All Things closes the album with a flourish with sombre piano chords offering a distinct change in pace. A mournful orchestral hue covers the track as an austere vocal foretells the pain of separation through death, seemingly in old age.

‘Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die’ depicts a band in transit from the past to envisioned future. They have neither managed to shake off the spectre of the past or fully embrace change but, they are heading in the right direction.