My Chemical Romance
– Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
3.5/5
Reprise
After firing drummer Bob Briar and disbanded their alter-ego band “The Black Parade”, nobody could have picked how wacky and confusing My Chemical Romance would become on their latest album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.
That’s not a backhanded compliment either, folks! First single “Na Na Na” is chop-socky punk rocky at its finest. Despite vocalist Gerard Way’s assertions against another concept album after The Black Parade, Danger Days is thematically rich as MCR double as the cartoonish biker gang The Fabulous Killjoys, fighting against the evil, megalomaniacal corporation Better Living Industries (aptly named, BL/ind) for control of Battery City.
For an album that was touted as a “return to punk rock” for MCR, the album is a weird mutation of jittery road trip summer love pop plus meat and potatoes punk rock, such as the uncontrollable “Party Poison” and the Elvis Costello-esque banger “Vampire Money”. We’ve never heard MCR more melodic than now, as Gerard Way’s voice sounds stronger than ever on “The Only Hope For Me Is You” and the angular desert-garage RAWK of “Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back”.
“Summertime” is the most beautiful pop moment on the record, however, it really could have done without pilfering 70% of its sonic elements from The Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979”. However, Danger Days rises above its own imperfections as a strong album, it is sure to become a 2011 summer favourite.
Written by Matt Petherbridge. Republished with permission: Reverb Magazine.
