When Say Amen got released, I was hyped for the new album, but listening to Silver Lining really rubbed me the wrong way. It just seemed really simplistic, like it was designed primarily to be “catchy”, which is a feeling I’ve never really gotten from previous songs. High Hopes kind of reinforced this opinion, but to a lesser degree.

I didn’t really enjoy the tease for KotC, but for some reason hearing it in the complete song made it far more appealing, and this is what convinced me to preorder.

On release day, I listened to every song sequentially, and I felt like I didn’t get my money’s worth. Most of the songs that I hadn’t heard before were good, but had elements I just couldn’t get past to enjoy them (Roaring 20s screeching horns, Dying in LA’s chorus, Old Fashioned’s weird brass section that reminded me way too much of Talk Dirty and Thunder simultaneously somehow).

If I put the album on shuffle, I found myself skipping more songs than I actually listened to, which I never did with DoaB, V&V or TWTLTRTD. I’ve developed a lot more appreciation for a few of the songs, but I still tend to wince during some parts of the songs I initally disliked, and some songs still feel the urge to just skip altogether.

I feel like PFTW is a good album, with plenty of good songs (and almost good songs) but I’ve also never had to let a Panic! album grow on me this much. I saw PFTW didn’t perform fantastically on the community survey, and while I’m not really surprised, it made me sad. I feel it could easily move up a few rankings if it wasn’t for a couple minor issues (seriously, Dying in LA would probably be in my top 3 if it weren’t for that chorus).

I don’t really know where this post is going, but I suppose I just felt like I needed to put this out there. PFTW has just had such a different effect on me compared to most other albums, that I needed to see of many others were feeling the same way.