When Panic at the Disco released the début album 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out' in early 2006 they quickly became the nations favourite band. In truth the band was little more than a Fall Out Boy clone with an added synth element to their sound, but nonetheless the music appealed to many and thus over 2.2 million copies of their début have been shifted in the U.S. alone. Whilst I'd be the first to admit that their sound was not particularly progressive and was merely a regurgitation of sounds which in truth had already been done to death before Panic at the Disco even came to be, I must say that I personally am a huge fan of the first album and it is in fact one that I still play an awful lot now. When Panic at the Disco emerged in early 2008 with new track 'Nine in the Afternoon' it came as quite a shock then that the music I was hearing I actually found to be terrifically dull and boring. All the life and energy that the band had previously possessed was all but gone, Panic at the Disco were a mere shadow of their former selves and any excitement that had formerly existed in their sound was now seemingly no more.

Before listening to this album I was not at all looking forward to once more hearing the track 'Nine in the Afternoon' that has been polluting the airwaves of national radio for some weeks now. When listening to this album though you start to realise that it is in fact one of the highlights here. It's by no means a good track, it is however more tolerable than much of the tracks on this album. It quickly becomes irritating, drags along painfully and never do Panic at the Disco here show any real talent. Now I'm not one to dissect the lyrical content of bands of this sort, but when lines as poor as 'It's nine in the afternoon, and your eyes are the size of the moon' are thrust upon you, it's quite hard not to pass comment about them. I'd love to know what the bands guitarist-come-lyricist Ryan Ross was thinking when this track was written, surely no one in their right mind would truly see these lines as well written? As the band further progress through this album though you learn that the cringe worthy lines definitely don't stop here. As Brendon Urie so eloquently puts across the line of 'I know it's sad that I never gave a damn about the weather, And it never gave a damn about me' you can't help but have a wry smile to yourself. The lyrics of Panic at the Disco have never been particularly excellent, but they surely could have done better than this. Some may argue that Panic at the Disco are here purely further exploring the subtly ironic humour that was exhibited on début album 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out', I however see these heinous lyrical crimes as nothing but laziness.

Panic at the Disco is probably the biggest rock band in the world right now, the fact of the matter though is that this second album 'Pretty Odd' just isn't very good. The band show no real signs of promise here, the music is dull and uninspiring; energy is kept to a minimum and when listening to this album you get the distinct impression that after four years together as a band Panic at the Disco no longer want to be making music under this name. All four members of the band seem to be dragging in different directions, the music has therefore been ruined and the sound that Panic at the Disco produce on this 'Pretty Odd' album is incredibly poor and at too many times provides for a painful listening experience. Had Panic at the Disco released this album as their first then I have no doubt that success would never have come for them, as it stands though 'Pretty Odd' will no doubt go on to sell far more copies than it really should. This is not a good album, it's not even an average one for that matter; 'Pretty Odd' is incredibly poor and Panic at the Disco really should have done a lot better than this.