A Fever You Can't Sweat Out - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
Barely out of high school when signed as the first act for Powered By Ramen's new Decaydance imprint, guitarist Ryan Ross and drummer Spencer Smith of Panic! at the Disco had previously cut their musical teeth in a local Las Vegas Blink 182 cover band. It's that familiar, contempo-punk-pop sensibility, bolstered by the amped-up emo-core ambitions of singer Brendan Urie (typified by the snarky gem "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage") that dominates the opening tracks of the album. It's a shrewd hook, one the band steadily expands -- sonically and lyrically -- thereafter. The nervous energy of "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines" is set off by sonic embroidery that's sounds as intriguing as the vocoder shtick of "Nails For Breakfast..." does dated. Yet "Camisado" quickly shakes up Supertramp's prog-pomp with a double-shot of modern punk-pop smarts, an alchemy the band and producer Mint Squire performs with similarly inventive, genre-blurring ambition (complete with a quasi-Grand Guignol "Intermission" nearly worthy of Queen) on "Lying is the Most Fun..." and such standouts as "But Its Better If You Do" and the arch delight "Build God, Then We'll Talk." Too many young bands are content slaves to fashion; this one has forged a promising debut by shrewdly taking fashion hostage, then standing it firmly on its head. -- Jerry McCulley

Album Description
This Las Vegas band strives to create a unique sound by blending melody-driven rock with dance. This is a rock record you can dance to; that's fun and sincere at the same time. Produced by Matt Squire (Northstar, The Explosion, The Receiving End Of Sirens). Panic! At The Disco is the first band signed to Pete Wentz's (Fall Out Boy) Decaydance Records, a Fueled By Ramen imprint label. "...Imagine The Faint meets The Postal Service with all of the pop sensibilities of a Blink 182" - Peter Wentz. Touring with Fall Out Boy, The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, and Boys Night Out this fall.

Customer Reviews: Read 360 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Well Done. January 6, 2006
309 out of 392 found this review helpful

Panic! At the Disco is a new band full of Las Vegas scene kids clever enough to think of such clever, mature, maybe even funny if you read it without the music, lyrics. Brendon Urie's(Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard, Piano, Accordion, Organ) voice is very extraordinary and just makes this type of music more fun to listen to. Of course with Ryan Ross'(Lyrics, Guitar, Keyboard, Piano, Accordion, Organ) very clever lyrics nothing would be possible. But no one can forget Brent Wilson(Bass) and Spencer Smith(Drums, Percussion). Their music is great to dance to and is good for parties. If you actually got this far through my review and didnt switch to another one, Thanks. Now lets get to the main part.

01.Introduction- 10/10: It's an introduction. You cant really demand too much of it. I personally thought it was a good one too.

02.The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage- 10/10: Great song. Catchy lyrics. Great beat and rythm. The acoustic guitar and the singer fuse well together in this song. Right away the song demands you to tap your toes and snap your fingers, and this song makes you do just that. You might even break into a dance.

03.London Beckoned Songs About Money Written by Machines- 10/10: Another Amazing song. Fast lyrics but not in your face. Greath rythm and beat that makes you want to bob your head and stomp your feet. The lyrics just hang onto you and dont let go, demanding you to sing along. Panic! At the Disco is the only band full of 19-year-olds that can say "We're are just a wet dream for the webzine" without sounding stupid.

04.Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks- 8/10: I'm sorry but this was one of my least favorite song on this cd. I still thought it was really good. I loved the chorus.

05.Camisado- 10/10: Really Really great song. This one grabs your attention, turns your rug into a dancefloor, and shoots a gun at your feet forcing you to dance. You just feel like dancing to this song. It really good.

06.Time to Dance- 10/10: GREAT dance song too. Good mix of Techno and the regular guitars and drums. Easy lyrics, but very strong ones, that makes you want to scream them out. I even found my self screaming "When I say Shotgun you say wedding! Shotgun, Wedding! Shotgun, Weddng!". Great explosive ending to this song also.

07. Lying is the Most Fun a Girl can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off- 10/10: A tone down of energy from the other songs, this song is a nice blend of maturity, lust, and great lyrics. Makes you want to dance, or even makeout with the person next to you...

08.Intermission- 9/10: Gives you a break from all the previous songs. I enjoyed it though, I liked the piano and thought it was a good way to split up the cd. I got scared at the end of the song haha.

09.But It's Better if You Do- 11/10: This is one of my Top 3 Favorite songs. Makes you want to dance, sing along, and even write the song all over your wall. Check it out for yourself, this is only my opinion. heh.

10.I Write Sins Not Tragedies- 11/10: Lovely song. The beginning politely asks you to pay attention, but in 30 seconds they demand your attention. I fell in love with this song, this one the first song I heard from them.

11.I Constantly Thank Esteban- 15/10: My Most Favorite Song ever! I had to learn the lyrics right away. It made my knees move while a was sitting, even standing. I love this song, but its up to YOU so check it out.

12. There's a Good Reason These Tables are Numbered Honey, You Just Havent Thought of it Yet- 15/10: Very Interesting song. Makes you want to listen through the whole song wondering what they will say. This song makes you want to throw on a hot outfit, grab your lover, and dance all around the floor with a rose in your mouth.

13. Build God, Then We'll Talk- 20/10: The best song on this cd to me. Catchy lyrics. This song turns you into a bobble head, flicking over and over again, making your head bob side to side. I dont really know how you would dance to this song though. I had fun singing it though.

I hope this review was helpful for you at all. I've said things over and over again in this review, like that this cd makes you dance, and makes you sing. But it does, great cd to play at parties. It does have 2 bad words so this might be recommended for "PG-13" kiddies and not the "PG" kids. This isn't emo. It's, in my opinion, Dance Punk or Dance Rock, because it is. This cd has a classy touch to it, using elegent words, clever ryhmes, things like that. This cd will make you tired and sore, but asks to be played once more. Great cd, preview it, buy it, love it.

4 out of 5 stars

Good emo-like delivery with some nice twists to it March 4, 2006
31 out of 55 found this review helpful

Panic! At the Disco has created quite a buzz with its break-out single "The Only Difference", which is an irresitable singalong. Now comes the album.

"A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" (13 tracks, 40 min.) starts off with a short instrumental, to then dive straight into the afore-mentioned "The Only Difference". Subsequent tracks "London Beckoned" and "Nails for Breakfast" continue on the same neck-breaking pace. Things slow down (but just a bit) on "Lying Is the Most Fun For a Girl", the last track of "Side 1" (track 7). After an instumental intermission, things kick up again with the delicious "But It's Better If You Do", and another highlight later on "Side 2" is "There's a Good Reason".

The album blasts by in no time. Musically, the album reminds me of Brand New, and that's a good thing in my book. There are a lot of emo bands out there but Panic! At the Disco is a band to be watched as they bring their sound with a great sophistication. "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" is highly recommended!

4 out of 5 stars

a mixed bag of influences = a very interesting and refreshing listen October 18, 2005
22 out of 22 found this review helpful

I got this album after my sister played a couple of mp3s for me. As an architecture student, I often sit in front of my computer or drafting table for 10 or more hours at a time, and many times I just put one album on repeat and listen to it about 20 times. I did this with "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" this weekend, and I am listening to it right now.

The word that I think sums the album up most accurately is: "compelling." After listening to the album over and over and over again, I have come to respect the achievement of this band and this album in a way that I respect the work of very few bands; the members of Panic! manage to absorb and, in a critical way, digest and re-produce many varied musical precedents into a strangely fresh form.

I am stunned that nobody in these reviews has mentioned the influence of the band Refused, specifically the album "The Shape of Punk to Come." The radio static fading in and out between techno fills, blending between songs, was done to amazing effect almost exactly seven years ago on "The Shape of Punk to Come," and in one sense one could say that Panic!'s album falls short of the promise of such an obvious influence, as Refused set the bar for all progressive punk/rock/rhythm/techno fusion forever, yet due to their obviously varied pool of influences, comparing Panic! and Refused is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. I think what Panic! has borrowed from Refused (complete variety through a mix of analog and digital musical techniques with an unrelenting, rhythmic energy) is completely effective in establishing a foundation upon which Panic! has succeeded in crafting an alarmingly listenable and compelling album.

2. In the first song, "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide is Press Coverage," the plea: "Sit tight, I'm going to need you to keep time, come on just snap snap snap your fingers for me," is delivered over a simple acoustic guitar line and a thin electronic snare beat, which leads quickly into crunchy electronic guitar with live drums. This plea is a perfect one to open this album with, compelling the listening to follow closely, as just within this single song the music bounces back and forth between pop and darker punk influences, techno, and folk with an effortless grace.

3. The thing that stands out most starkly to me in the second song, "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines," is how the melody ("make us it, make us hit, make us scene...") of the chorus sounds exactly like a Coheed and Cambria melody, but I haven't been able to find the exact song it's reminding me of. Overall, I find the choice of topic and the content of the lyrics to expose a certain degree of immaturity, but I suppose that's to be expected from such a young band.

4. I love the opening synth/guitar (?) line of "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks." It reminds me of NES games from fifteen years ago. Then the heavy vocals filter... so Cher!

5. The imagery and tone of "Camisado" strongly recalls Brand New's "The Quiet Things that No One Ever Knows"; a young and masculine lyricist waxing poetic about the violence native to living fast and loud and the inevitable pause the spectre of death presents to such a mind. Overall not as effective as Brand New's song in dealing with the subject matter, but, again a bit like comparing apples and oranges, as "The Quiet Things" is a classic, driving Brand New anthem and "Camisado" is more nuanced and painted with techno florishes. It's most successful moment is during the filtered drum breakdown beginning at 2:02, its abrupt transistion into its quiet, contemplative repetition and drumroll back into the chorus. But, again, the formula was also successful in "The Quiet Things," and several other Brand New (and Blink 182, for that matter) songs, with a contemplative bridge building up to an anthemic final chorus. Panic! could learn a bit about vocal harmony from Brand New.

6&7. "It's Time to Dance" and "Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off", though very different songs, make sort of a mini rock opera in the middle of the album for me, as the lyricist manages to arrange two different songs, one with estrogen and the other with testosterone as subjects of their respective choruses, next to one another in order on the album. Excellent, haha...

8. Ah, the Refused influence finally makes itself indisputable. However, radio static and techno aside, I must say that the piano solo on "Intermission" is quite remarkable for a pop/punk/whatever band to have pulled off; most of the bands that I have known personally or have listened to a good deal tend to stay quite close to the guitar & bass & drum arrangement, and for a baroque-ish waltz to spring up in the middle of this album is pretty rad. Not to mention the artful accellerando and sloppy notes towards the end which are eventually overpowered by a THX-ish digital flourish of noise... so interesting, if unpleasant to listen to. It's things like this, the creation a tension within the listener, a fretfulness caused between enjoying the intellectual operation within the song and the actual cacaphony of the sounds being made, in Panic!'s music that brings it closer to art than most bands would even understand.

9. "But It's Better When We Do"... What is this?? A ska song? WTF? More diversity, craziness...

10-13. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" is a great song, as are the last three songs, as varied in their influences and as skillfully written as the rest of the tracks. I find the cello on "Build God, Then We'll Talk" particularly welcome, reprising the most recognizable melody from "The Sound Of Music" (????!!!!) to cap off the most diverse pop punk album ever written.

And in conclusion, I feel I need to emphasize part of the last point: in terms of overall content, tone and production, this ultimately comes across as a pop punk album, and this is the reason I have given it 4 stars and not 5. I feel that, while there is an obvious maturity to the skills that were necessary to create something that fuses so many musical influences so seamlessly, there is also a nagging immaturity to the overall feel of the album, a sort of ansty teenager feeling that I feel is only holding this talented band back from truly breaking new ground, musically. As Brand New really managed to mature as a band with Deja Entendu, I eagerly look foward to Panic!'s next album, when the product will hopefully fulfill the promise made so obvious with this exceptional debut.

1 out of 5 stars

high school auditorium to record label. who cares. April 2, 2006
16 out of 29 found this review helpful

The very first place I heard this band was on their MySpace page when they released their brand new single The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage and I thought that these guys were pretty good.

Later, I received the full album and decided to give it a listen. The sound was great, but the lyrics were painfully shallow and mediocre at best. The impression I got from these guys was that when they come up with new material, they simply walk into a Hot Topic and write down trendy articles of clothing.

For instance, song 12 on their album, "There's a good reason these tables are numbered honey, you just haven't thought of it yet:"

Please leave all overcoats canes and top hats with the doorman.
And from that moment you'll be out of place and underdressed.
I'm wrecking this evening already and loving every minute of it.
Ruining this banquet for the mildly inspiring and choreographed. Because.
When you're in black slacks with accentuating, off-white, pinstripes...
Everything goes according to plan.

Infact, I've written my own little ditty at I-HOP this morning on a napkin for my new band that sounds exactly like Fall Out Boy but with more painful lyrics. Hey, I've got to make a living somehow.

I call it, "I've Purchased Another Mediocre Breakfast But It Doesn't Matter Because Food Is Food Charlie."

I was wearing striking Volcom shorts with a pink Polo golf shirt when I walked in.
My appearance was enticing and impressive at best. But the rest?
Consume second-rate pancakes doused in syrup at a leisurely rhythm.
I wish I had more sausage in my placid breakfast burrito.
If I don't get an extra side of hash browns from the bad-mannered waiter.
I'm pitching my coffee into his eyes.

What do you feel about it? I know what you're thinking; things are going to get busy really soon with my new band. Even when a major label throws me a record deal, I'll still do CD Reviews. Everything's going to be all right.

Anyway-silliness aside-these guys really do have a great sound. My biggest beef is the fact that the band is basically a simplified Fall Out Boy, with painful lyrics and the occasional disco beat thrown into every other song (hence the clever band name! Eh?)

1 out of 5 stars

The Worst of All Worlds April 25, 2006
16 out of 24 found this review helpful

Oh, where to begin to describe this heaping mash of aural garbage? Who would have thought that the humble, but earnest beginnings of emo would, almost two decades later, be spun off to bear this as its illegitimate, disfigured offspring. I keep listening to this record, desperately trying to come up with a single redeeming feature, only to be slapped in the face once again with how abjectly awful everything about it remains.

The instrumentation is designed so that a 9-year-old with cerebral palsy could play it by ear in about 15 minutes. I've never heard so many power cords in a single disc before (and yes, I've heard all of blink-182, the reigning kings of simple songs). It really is quite incredible how moronically simple these songs are. There is no originality, no musicianship, and no SOUL to this music. It exists simply to exist, it serves absolutely no purpose.

And then...sweet lord...then there are the lyrics. I'm still somewhat in a state of shock at how idiotic these songs are. I could ALMOST look past the asinine song titles if there was any lyrical substance in the songs themselves. I assure you that this is absolutely not the case. Its almost commendable, if it were parody. If they had come out and said "We did everything we could to make this as stupid as possible," there would at least be some wit behind the album. As it stands, it seems as if these Las Vegas rejects are actually thinking they're making legitimate music. I think I'm going to be sick. If you don't believe me, go actually read a lyrics sheet to the inanely titled "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage." If there is a single person who can make any kind of sense to these lyrical feces, please, for the love, let me know.

I'll be the first to say I'm a pretty big detractor of the whole emo movement. The "heart-on-your-sleeves/love me because I'm more sensitive than the other guy" thing is just a pretty dang stupid musical device. But at least up until the turn of the century it was a legitimate musical movement. Now all we have are the idiots looking to eat of the scraps of a table almost completely picked clean.

I'd recommend better music, but anyone listening to this trash doesn't really deserve to hear it. As it stands, the growing popularity of bands such as Panic! At the Disco has me not only saddened by the state of the record industry, but humanity as a whole. I'm not sure I want to live in a world populated by the kind of people who like this music.

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