When a musician offers up a work of art that finds critical acclaim, consumers have a tendency to become incredibly complacent; the follow-up song or extended play or album has to be similar to its predecessor, but also better. And yet, it can’t be too similar, lest it be deemed a gimmick or rehash.

In that regard, perhaps no band has dared to be more perpetually in flux, both musically and physically, than Panic! At the Disco. There isn’t one project that features the same lineup of members or producers, and the sonic themes are as rangy and varying as one could possibly fathom.

It is fitting, then, that the culmination of a decade of incessant deck-shuffling finds Brendon Urie, the oft-spotlighted front man and now the only tangible member of the band, playing all of the instruments and writing all of the songs for the newly released 11-track effort, Death Of A Bachelor. Down is up for Panic! (and Urie), and convention simply won’t ever suffice.

Bachelor finds Urie pulling inspiration from Sinatra, seeking to put a more personal touch on the lyrics and songwriting, etching out a sense of poignancy and reflection, perhaps in an attempt to give the band name the eulogy it deserves. As he himself noted in a post on the band’s Facebook page back in October, “It’s a beginning to a new era. And a homage to how it all began.”