A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

Barely out of high school when they recorded this slyly sophisticated debut, PATD initially casts a familiar punk-pop spell (guitarist Ryan Ross and drummer Spencer Smith once toiled in a Vegas-based Blink 182 cover band), typified by the emo-core-on-steroids urgency of singer Brendan Urie on the snarky stand-out "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage." But the band quickly dispels notions of the formulaic with the nervy "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines, " then busts the envelope of expectations wide open with the prog-meets-punk ethos of "Camisado," the Queen-channeling "Intermission" and the grand, genre-bending conceits of "But Its Better If You Do" and "Build God, Then We'll Talk." The band and producer Mint Squire may use the sonic trappings of contemporary musical fashion as lure, but they quickly transform them into something far more original, ambitious and intriguing.