The latest video from Panic! At The Disco starts with what appears to be the kidnapping of a young girl by an unidentifiable person wearing a red robe. The camera pans out to reveal what seems to be a crop circle, but what is actually the the band’s new symbol: an exclamation point inside a circle inside a triangle. At the three points of the triangle, there is an eye, a moon and a sun.

The next scene shows a cult torturing a young boy, who is bound to a chair with wrist restraints by an unknown and unseen person wearing green latex gloves. The red-robed figure makes another appearance and is clearly identifiable as a bearded man, perhaps be the leader of the cult.

“L.A. Devotee” continues a dark theme for the band, which also announced an upcoming tour when it released the video. The song is one of 11 on the band’s latest album “Death Of A Bachelor,” which was released early this year and includes musical influences from Queen, the B-52s and Frank Sinatra. Panic has now released six videos, including “L.A. Devotee,” from the album.

The band seems to be following a dark or ominous theme with its recent videos. The video, focused on a what can only be described as a cult, features a man in a mask, and what seems to be a chalice filled with blood that they force the young boy to drink. The setting seems to be  a dark cave or a dilapidated building with dead animals and skulls on the walls and ground.

The music video, directed by Mel Soria, stars Noah Schnapp, known for his portrayal of Will in the Netflix show “Stranger Things.” As with all the music videos for this album, the video is somewhat unusual.

Here and there, fans see flashes of Brendon Urie, lead singer of the band, who as usual, looks slightly crazed. Usually Urie is the center of attention in the band’s videos, but this one is more focused on Schnapp than it is on Urie.

The music video isn’t a bad video but it’s not great either, it’s lacking order.

The song is all about someone who has fallen madly in love with L.A. and is desperately trying to succeed but is “always on the hunt for a little more time” to make the dream come true. With lyrics like “drinking white wine in the blushing lights” and “swimming pools under desert skies,” the lyrics talk about what made made this person fall in love with the city.

The only way the video remotely follows or sticks to the meaning behind the lyrics is the sense of black magic being performed. In the song, Urie makes a reference to “the black magic on Mulholland Drive.” Other than that, nothing else about the video makes much sense.

The video is hard to follow at times because it’s difficult to tell what exactly is happening due to seemingly random images flashing across the screen. At some points, the video is a jumbled mess because too much is happening at once.  

The video comes after a successful album release and an even more successful tour. For the past few days, the band has been hinting that something important was going to happen, but were very vague about it.

The video ends with Urie flexing his green latex enclosed hands, walking towards the restrained boy with a crazed look in his eyes. The appearance of the green latex gloves gives the impression that Urie was the one who bound the boy to the chair in the beginning of the video.

The video leaves fans with possibly more questions than they had before. There is a feeling that Thursday’s announcement is not the only surprise the band has in store for fans. However, one thing is for certain: many fans are on the very edge of their seats in suspense waiting for what the band will do next.

On Instagram, the band posted videos such as someone running through a corn field with the caption “IX XXII Join Us.” A link below the caption sent anyone who clicked on it to a signup page for the PATD mailing list. Fans had no idea what they were signing up for but being the loyal fans they are, many  signed up.

Finally, fans know what the mischievous band has been up to. All the fans who signed up for the mailing list will receive a special code that will allow them early access to buy tickets.

Unlike the rest of Panic’s music videos, this one it doesn’t add anything to the song. It’s nice to have a video to go with the song, but it’s not necessary viewing.