To say that Panic! At the Disco's seventh album, 2022's Viva Las Vengeance, is a love letter to rock & roll is to state the obvious about what is also one of their most thrilling and enjoyable records. Essentially a solo vehicle for singer Brendon Urie since at least 2016's Death of a Bachelor, Panic! remains a conduit for his varied passions, touching upon post-emo dance-rock and Broadway-esque balladry. While Viva Las Vengeance certainly retains those hallmarks, it's primarily focused on fist-pumping rock anthems, the kind that bands like Queen, T. Rex, and Cheap Trick spilled across AM dials in the 1970s and '80s. These are hooky cuts, where Urie frames his still angelically amped-up vocals in crunchy electric guitar riffs, wrestle-mania drumbeats, candy-coated synths, and even the occasional brassy flourish of a horn line. It's worth noting that Urie recorded much of the album live to tape. While there were surely overdubs done later (not to mention swathes of operatically multi-tracked vocals), it has the crackling immediacy and organic texture of a classic vinyl album. The crate-digging vibe is unabashed, and you can almost call out the specific artists and songs that inspired each track. "Middle of a Breakup" has an Elvis Costello-meets-Raspberries energy, while "Sugar Soaker" is pure AC/DC. Similarly evocative, the bombastic "Star Spangled Banger" has a jazzy verse that borrows knowingly from Thin Lizzy's "Boys Are Back in Town."

1		Viva Las Vengeance
2		Middle Of A Breakup
3		Don't Let The Light Go Out
4		Local God
5		Star Spangled Banger
6		God Killed Rock And Roll
7		Say It Louder
8		Sugar Soaker
9		Something About Maggie
10		Sad Clown
11		All by Yourself
12		Do It To Death