“iTunes Australia FINALLY decided to get its shit together and make this song available to buy!
Okay, on to the review. I have been in love with Panic! for a good six years now. Wow, I feel old.
Anyways, I when I first heard them, I mistook them for another band I love called Eleventeen. Eleventeen (now broken up) were a relatively unknown band, but the vocalist sounded EXACTLY like Brendon from P!ATD. So when I heard "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" playing, my initial reaction was "HOLY HELL ELEVENTEEN'S MADE IT!!!" Then I looked up at the video and said "HOLY HELL, THAT'S NOT ELEVENTEEN! But OHMYGOD THIS IS JUST AS AWESOME!!!!!!!"
I was a very annoying teenager.
Anyhoo, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that The Ballad of Mona Lisa is one of the BEST songs Panic! has ever made. Over the years, it seemed as though the band was searching for their identity. They went back and forth trying out varying sounds - and now they've struck gold with this. This song solidifies what they're amazing at. While I still loved their indie/Beatles phase that was "Pretty. Odd.", I am glad to hear influences from their beginnings back in their music. After all, that's what won their fans over in the first place.
I'll admit, I was pretty bummed when I heard that half the band members split (especially since one of the departed was the primary lyricist), but the quality Brendon and Spencer have managed to produce on their own serves as assurance that they're gonna do pretty spectacularly on their own. I'm also so happy Brendon now has full reign over songwriting.
Side note: My love for this song only intensified once the video came out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOgpdp3lP8M.
(I absolutely adore the parallels to their first music video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc6vs-l5dkc.)
Another side note: The video to "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" has revived my love and burning desire for a top hat.
Final side note: Ryan Ross and Jon Walker can suck it.”
Panic! sorta took their place once they split :)