It's fair to say that My Chemical Romance are a band that divide opinion at the best of times. Once loved by many of my peers when we were younger, they were soon labelled as "uncool" to like as age dictates the music taste of many. While I was living through the age of their rise, with their explosive breakthrough on second album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, many began to dislike the band and their alleged "emo" tag. When this visceral punk rock album was succeed by the anthemic yet dark The Black Parade, this incorrectly associated tag became ever harder to shift.
With their third album, My Chemical Romance became a worldwide success. Playing arenas the world over for 2 solid years, including sell out tours of back-to-back dates at Wembley Arena and a second sell out tour including London's O2 Arena, their popularity had never been higher, yet also never lower. A legion of devoted fans would attend their gigs wherever they went, and a legion of haters would follow behind. The violent riots against fans in Mexico in early 2008 prompted frontman Gerard Way to speak out against the emo-tag, stating the band had zero association with such ideas. The bottling received at Reading Festival 2006 and the artical that year by The Daily Mail stating MCR are a band representing a self-harming community and all-round force of evil are stories which have dogged the band for years. The destructive process of recording The Black Parade, subsequent intense touring and little recovery time brought this band to its limits.
Such breaking points were eventually broken. The band's drummer Bob Bryar eventually left the band during the recording process for Danger Days, though he is credited on a number of songs. The band built up barriers around themselves, stating that they had to record to a set of rules, if they were to ever advance on the success of their third album. At the same time, they were convinced that the bells and whistles of The Black Parade that made it sound like Queen-meets-punk-rock should be stripped out. The album should be direct and energetic and raw; a throwback to The Ramones, if you will. An album was recorded and was ready. Then the band threw it away.
Deciding it to be poor, lacking substance and not the direction the band should go in, the 4 members called it quits for a while and went on some much needed R&R. While on holiday with wife Lyn-Z (of Mindless Self Indulgence fame) and baby Bandit, Gerard took in his surroundings and created the concept of the new album. Visualising a world of colour and Pop Art, laser guns, American muscle cars and good guys versus bad guys, he wrote the song Na Na Na. He felt renewed, and rushed back home to pull the others into the studio.
The result? A band ecstatic with this new concept. The new rules for writing - there were no rules. If it sounded good, it went down. Electronic elements (Planetary (GO!)) to upfront punk (Vampire Money) have been blended into this new album. And what a fantastic effort it is.
Kicking out with the radio transmission and concept-setting Look Alive Sunshine and blending straight into lead single Na Na Na, the album explodes with joyous energy and colour and FUN. This is the ying to the yang that was the monochromatic, dark and soul-sucking The Black Parade. It's the sign of the band turning heel and producing an album that will drive uplift into you.
Na Na Na's catchy chorus fades out and gives way to Bulletproof Heart, a structurally simple yet anthemic number that is sure to be a crowd favourite to sing along to. The powerful chorus of "Gravity, don't mean too much to me, I'm who I've got to be" helps to reiterate how the band are holding nothing back and abiding by no rules, simply being the band they want to be.
Single Sing follows on from this, slowing the pace slightly with this uniting ballad. The accompanying video shows a tale of the Killjoys breaking into the Bl/ind dystopia of Battery City to rescue a kid called Girl. They blast through with laser guns and make a break for it, but the security rises up to stop them. NewsAGoGo, head of Scarecrow Unit's security, releases Korse - comic book writer Grant Morrison dressed like a butler from the 19th century - to take down the Killjoys. When Party Poison (Gerard) accidentally kills his ally Agent Cherri Cola (played by MSI's Jimmy Urine) he hesitates and is then killed by Korse. The others make a break for it, dying one by one with Girl managing to escape with Dr Death Defying (MSI's Steve Righ?). As you can see - the album is packed with this kind of colourful concept. Watch the video to believe it:
The album revs back up with Planetary (GO!), a song that bounces with a disgustingly catchy beat and electronic dance influence, while still powering and soaring through. A song guaranteed to make you want to tap your foot. The Only Hope For Me Is You follows on, beginning slowly with the resonating voice of Gerard saying "Remember me..." before the chorus explodes through. A song in much the same vein as Bulletproof Heart, but not with quite the same level of impact, it makes another fine addition to the album.
Steve Righ? returns for the interlude for Jet-Star and The Kobra Kid/Traffic Report, explaining how Ray and Frank (respectively) have been "ghosted" and this gives way to Party Poison, a fast upfront blast of punk kicked off with NewsAGoGo talking and a driving discord of noise. A song that will get hands clapping, it doesn't quite match the grandness of the songs before it but is, nonetheless, a buzzing number.
Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back follows with yet another catchy chorus of "na na na na na"-ing but packs attitude and is a throwback to the anthem sounds of The Black Parade and continues the album riding high on power and colour and even contains a rather cracking guitar solo.
The album then slows for back-to-back ballads on S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W and Summertime. The former deeply resonates the sound of The Used, with Gerard almost sounding exactly like Bert McCracken during the chorus' high pitched singing, resembling The Used's Kissing You Goodbye. Featuring strings and a real wave-your-arms-in-the-air feeling, the song sucks some energy from the album but is by no means a bad song. However, following this with another mid-paced ballad detracts somewhat from the feeling previously established. Opening with the sound of Red Light Company but producing a song that is by far the most radio friendly of the album, it shows the diversity of the musical palette this album has. A good enough song, but perhaps wrongly placed in the track listing.
The pounding Destroya helps rectify this by smashing onwards and upwards and recalling the similarly named DSTRYR/DSTRYR by Lostprophets in its powerful chorus of yelling the song title repeatedly but most effectively. The song is backed by swelling keyboards and broken in by the sounds of the band sounding slightly orgasmic. This song is by far one of the best the band have written to date.
The Kids From Yesterday once again flexes those ballad muscles but is a better effort than its predecessors, and nicely tunes out into the album's outro Goodnight, Dr Death with Steve Righ? bidding the listeners of his pirate radio station a fond farewell, as he must now run away with the Killjoys all dead. The transmission ends with a heart-warming rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.
However a massive burst of static crashes in and leads straight into the battling drums of Vampire Money. Shedding their Killjoy names and Gerard asking each member by their real names if they're ready, a count of "3-2-1!" counts in the utterly massive album closer. A hands-clapping, high-octane 3 minutes follow with the band unleashed a crushing and fantastic end to a truly great album - an album that helps counter the grey clouds much of the media have placed over them as a symbol of evil, and reinstates them as a truly massive sounding rock band with much to offer.
OVERALL RATING - 9/10
SUGGESTED SONGS - Bulletproof Heart, Destroya, Vampire Money
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