PANIC! have achieved a lot as a band in the few short years of their existence. They became “scene” icons with their first record,
The Broken Hearts Anthems, pop/rock friendly with
We Are the Directors of This Dramatic Love Story and with the release of
Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner (particularly the single “
MySpace Whore”) they became a bonified phenomenon. This is due in almost complete part to front faces Ashley Perry and Ryan Ross Hernandez, who in addition to being a surprising “sex” symbols and also popular Christian role models (yes, apparently they can coexist), together they have some of the most audacious and hooky voices since Avril Lavigne first came onto the scene. Most likely because of their massive importance to the bands success, PANIC! as a unit (also including Gabriel Hunter, Nick Asher, Joey Fallon and Anilet Lowell) nearly succumbed to the pressure all rising bands face and were close to breaking up during the time leading up to Broken Down on Memory Lane. Instead of prematurely ending however, they channeled their frustration into the record. What does that mean exactly?
The most immediate difference on
Broken Down on Memory Lane is, maturity. Both musically and lyrics wise. Despite how much more bitter and cold the lyrics are. While there was some pre-madonna angst and venom on songs like “
The Only Way That I Know How to Feel” and “
MySpace Whore”,
Broken Down on Memory Lane is filled to the brim with spite. While the novelty of this is fairly large, and hearing Ashley sing with a lot more emotional investment in the songs is worth the price of admission, some of the magic from previous albums. The songs are still ridiculously catchy and easy to sing along to, but at times you’ll be wondering if you really want to be singing along to lines like “Well if God’s the game you’re playing then we’ll have to get acquainted/Because it has to be so lonely to be the only one whose Holy”.
With their success came internal issues, and I won't go into details because this doesn't need to read like an Alternative Press article. Basically, PANIC! were almost no more, and with
Broken Down on Memory Lane they want you to know that they came out the other side intact and stronger than ever.
Well, sort of.
Broken Down on Memory Lane sees Ashley Perry coming even more into her own as a vocalist, leaving the shadow of Ryan Ross Hernandez, but progression is a two-way street, and the band isn't exactly meeting her halfway. With each album, Perry and Hernandez seem to get ten times better, while the Y-chromosomes only get about three times better. Now, no one such expect the band to start shredding and riffing like a post hardcore band, but when your singers exceed expectations (and both get hotter - have you seen the video for "
Disloyal Order of the Ignorant"?) with each album, there should be just a tad more progression. That being said, they do a good job on this album, and they even think outside their normal box a little bit.
Too CarefulThe album opens with a chuggier bass than anything on the previous record, wrestling with lots of surprisingly complex math-rock time changes - almost like Mars Volta at full-on melodic crescendo but with Ashley doing those big rising AFI-like vocals. The breakdowns give light relief before gigantic drum rolls. The lyrics are all about pushing you away, with the phrase "don't come any closer!" repeated quite a bit. Ashley urges fellow bandmates (or maybe just Ryan) to "open up your eyes like I opened mine." It’s so aggressive, you almost feel a bit afraid of this young, tiny girl.
Disloyal Order of the IgnorantLolita-ish Stefani-esque vocals over what could be No Doubt at their most brash or Alkaline Trio at full (pop) tilt. So far so much more intense in both an ornate and chaotically complex way, than the previous album. The big lyrical statements are still present, with lines like "I'm just another faceless stranger to you" This is the biggest-sounding song on the record, the band have told us this is about a time they were arguing and Ashley felt like a stranger to the rest of the band, like they didn’t know each other. It’s pretty cool that she felt she could speak out to them through her words in this song. This track is the first single from the album.
Who Framed God?A slow-starter. And then it drops off to a solo rhythm guitar line and in come some much more adroit drums and a big blink-182/Get Up Kids chorus. At this point you'll know it's another angry song from the young band in their 20's. Lots of melodically stuttered "br-break-break it off" repetition makes this one sound like a live favorite in waiting. If your a Fall Out Boy fan, this song will remind you of the breakdown of "Chicago Is So Two Years Ago", but instead of Justin Pierre you'll Hernandez' singing "I'll point you to the mirror!" in the background. Ashley takes aim at bully-pulpit blowhards ("Next time you point a finger, I'll point you to the mirror," she sneers). "Who Framed God?" has some zippy new-wave harmonies. These lyrics are very cutting but intelligently written; despite the obvious negativity surrounding the subject, whatever that is, Perry and Hernandez has honed their songwriting skills and created something with depth from them. This ain’t your average ’shut up I’m talking now’ Avril Lavigne song.
A World of Magic Can't Fix Your Tragic LifeAshley declares "bury the hatred" and then there's a "ba-da-ba-ba-da-ba-ba-ha" that Lostprophets and Panic! at the Disco would be really proud of. The press release says the album is "breathless", I guess that could also be read as unrelenting because so far the drums on this record are a little more like a barrage of noise crashing down on you which is a good thing! This the album's philosophical centerpiece, lays out the singer's worldview with the same degree of clarity as previous efforts.
Turn It Off (When Praying Doesn't Always Help)Ashley is sounding cutesy as a big ball of riff builds and builds, then falls away [insert huge first verse here]. This one sounds like the credits to a college rock movie, as the camera pans on zooming cars whilst monster trucks rain from the sky. Except the song is about their religious belief and battling self-doubt. So, it kind of be for a christian college movie?. Perry protests that "it's getting harder to believe in anything" and rails against "shortcuts and false solutions". It’s a passionate song but, however intentional, the beat is lost in the words.
There's Only One Exception When It Comes to LoveOOC: You'll be reading about this song somewhere else. ;)
A Feeling We Don't Appeal ToA jet stream splicing riff lurches from the calm and the bass dur-nurr-nurrs like My Vitriol at their most emo. Lots more F-U-right-back lyrics on this one, with lots of lines like "I feel no sympathy" fluttering around this tamed beast of a track. Offering plenty of guitar riffs, cymbal smashing and angst-ridden, but ultimately harsh lyrics. Another break up song? How many relationships have Ashley and Ryan had? It’s punchy but there’s something missing. By the close it begins to sound conflicted, like she wants to believe. Again, very angry, but not a bad thing.
Things Are Looking Up (Our Dreams Are Realities)'Looking Up' is a little more like PANIC!'s trademark epic-rock-pop bigness with melodic hardcore-pausing breaks but the song carried by the vocal (or if you wanna get technical, the top-line melody). Throw in some "wuh-woah-oh-oh!'" and you have a Sunny D addictive 'MySpace Whore'-like feel good melodramatic popular song. This and next track play like responses to that hubbub. "God knows the world doesn't need another band / But what a waste it would have been," Perry wails in the former, before adding, "I can't believe we almost hung it up." It’s a good trademark PANIC! track, lots of riffs and tame ferociousness, no anger here, more hope.
Writing in Stone Across a Personal MapAn inaudibly quiet guitar line and then THWACK! - we're whacked with more racing rock joy. Break. "Oh-oh" and THACK. Pause. And they bring that riff back twice the size, like a worm you've chopped in half. This is an 'in love' song with lines like "no one is as lucky as I seem." In essence, this one sounds like an obvious call and return for their huge live crowds but also a spikey attack at the echo-chamber of the media, as the lyric continues "...I've got a feeling if I sing this loud enough, you will sing it back to me!" In essence, this is probably what would happen if Refused wrote pop songs for Kelly Clarkson. Over a typically speedy, robo-garage groove, she admits, "No one is as lucky as us." Given PANIC!'s purity of purpose, though, luck isn't really part of the equation. Very, very catchy and simple lyrics, guitars that chug happily away before growling into huge memorable riffs; perhaps not a fight more like a call for critics or fans or other bands to join them.
Misguided HeartsThings fall away to a slight and quite special acoustic moment. It's genuinely really-really lovely with a tiny bit of kick drum toward the end. Lyrically it wanders around dragging its feet in diary-angst but that's part of the reason why they mean so much to their younger fans and why they're such a special guilty pleasure - "we just go in circles, pain is just a simple compromise... A broke heart, a twisted mind." Perry and Hernandez sound like a smoother version of a 90s punk band vocalist (think Jawbreaker), singing in that sort of style where there aren't many changes in tone, where everything is very laid back. Musically, the acoustic guitars play different picked progressions that complement each other nicely. It's a bit different for them, and it's good to hear. The band aren't reinventing their own wheel, they're just finally making it spin a little bit faster and better. Ashley tones it down a lot on this tune, her voice sounds so delicate, it’s uplifting.
All I Wanted Was (Me & You)This is the big Evanescence-like falling down a black hole album crescendo. Big bass, with lots of space to let everything breathe before a capella bits and then huge tumbling drums and face-shaking riffs. And if Broken Down on Memory Lane's killer power-ballad closer, brings to mind the title of Kelly Clarkson's latest album, well, PANIC!'s singing duo might be the only vocalists in rock capable of surviving the comparison. Their fresh-faced bandmates don't leave her hanging, either, attacking their spring-loaded pop/rock with the unbridled enthusiasm of Dear In You diehards. When the band drops out and leaves her on her own to sing "All I wanted was you" halfway through the song, you'll know that Perry isn't a teenybopper anymore. Fuzzy guitars play out the end of the track and; then insert feedback 'til fade.
Overall ReviewBroken Down on Memory Lane doesn't have many missteps, despite the aggressive lyrics, and the fact that there's more than one song obviously about their near-breakup may annoy some, and it's a fitting follow-up to Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner. There's just enough maturation from the band to keep naysayers from saying "I told you so!" and the typical mind-blowing vocal performances from Ashley and Ryan save the band in the few moments where they falter. In the past, PANIC! became more popular than their peers simply by being better, but now I think they're discovering that they'll need to be different to continue to impress their ever-growing fanbase. But don’t go expecting big love songs, because the band, and in particular Ashley Perry and Ryan Ross Hernandez are pretty angry this time. Their fourth studio album, Broken Down on Memory Lane shows that they have the potential - now they've just got to live up to it and create the classic album the fans know they can make.
PANIC!'s fourth studio album is in stores worldwide on November 3rd, 2009.
