| MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - 'Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys' review. |
| Written by Shahlin Graves |
| Friday, 03 December 2010 12:41 |
 The outpouring of reinvention on MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE's new album 'DANGER DAYS: THE TRUE LIVES OF THE FABULOUS KILLJOYS' is next-level. Never before in my lifetime has a band that I have grown up listening to, managed to accomplish so successfully what many other staples of my teenage years have crashed and burned while attempting. 'Danger Days' is the sound of a band who have pinpointed their raison d'être - and have come to realise and appreciate that by creating an art-form built upon projections of their own inner-most musings, their fanbase (and former critics) are sure to follow. There is little in the world that is more engaging than lionhearted honesty. My Chemical Romance have returned ray-guns a-blazing, in a fearless charge forward that despite being set in California 2019, is timeless in its locked and loaded social commentary in ways that will forever remain relevant for our generation. Much like a Pokemon, My Chemical Romance have stayed true to all the best qualities and features of their band that have been showcased on previous albums, but have now evolved their group's aesthetic to (naturally) incorporate elements from their favourite comic books, science-fiction, and film influences. On 'Danger Days' My Chemical Romance accelerate from channeling David Bowie's 'Diamond Dogs' album, to Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner' documentary and the soundtrack of 'Reservoir Dogs'. 'Danger Days' is an exciting listen. This is clearly a band for whom half-hearted fixes are never even considered. Steve Montano (from Mindless Self Indulgence - of which MCR frontman Gerard Way's wife Lindsey [LynZ] Ann Way nee Ballato is the bassist for) voices the DJ Dr. Death Defying, whose pirate-radio broadcasts feature on the album's kick-off track 'Look Alive, Sunshine' and into the introduction of 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)', before reappearing on 'Jet-Star And The Kobra Kid/Traffic Report' and signing off in 'Goodnite, Dr. Death'. These vocal sketches paint the scene of a dystopian existence manhandled by Better Living Industries - a world in which the 'Fabulous Killjoys' (Party Poison, Fun Ghoul, Kobra Kid, and Jet Star) chew up the desert in their Trans-Am car, only stopping to shoot up draculoids in a determined stand against corporate clean-up. By now, ridiculously catchy lead-single 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)' will have inherently sunk its teeth into your consciousness. The manic attention to detail in the production on this album really shines through in delightful moments like the layered synth-refrain in the choruses of 'Na Na Na'. My favourite of the album - track three 'Bulletproof Heart' - also sparkles with further synth-experimentation, layered vocals, and fantastic quotables, e.g. the song's opening line: "Gravity, don't mean too much to me." The album's second-single 'SING' is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. You don't even have to close your eyes to imagine sold-out stadiums taking the song's every choral incantation literally: "Sing it for the boys. Sing it for the girls. Every time that you lose it sing it for the world. Sing it from the heart..." It's an interesting choice for a second single though, considering the stream-of-consciousness-like build-up in the bridge, quite unlike anything else currently mainstream-charting. It's a fitting choice though, with its autobiographical declarations: "Generation nothing. Nothing but a dead scene. Product of a white dream. Am not the singer that you wanted..." Track five 'Planetary (GO!)' strikes a match to Thirty Seconds To Mars' 'Closer To The Edge', in that both songs gloriously utilise synthesizers as musical punctuation, in daring assaults not unlike what one would imagine in the speech bubbles of a comic strip. No song on 'Danger Days' fails to conjure up filmic visuals during playback - and 'The Only Hope For Me Is You' is certainly no exception with its magnificently soaring vocal lines. I like to think of 'The Only Hope For Me Is You' as the Yang to ('The Black Parade's') 'I Don't Love You''s Yin. Further careening onwards, 'Party Poison' boldly demonstrates hand-claps-galore, and the reflective 'Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back' smugly mirrors the now infamous "Na na na" refrain that highlights the slightly grittier second half of 'Danger Days'. Track ten 'S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W' boasts one of my favourite lines of the album - "See the rust through your playground eyes. We're all in love tonight..." - followed by the romantic 'Summertime' (which fans of Mae will adore), a love-song that sets MCR apart from their glass-half-empty contemporaries. 'Destroya' is the album's crowning moment of poetic justice. Opening with tribal drums inspired by the Hindu Holi Festival, the track is a swagger-full monologue hollering in defiance against traditional caste systems and religious faith. Track thirteen 'The Kids From Yesterday' continues to project one of the album's main themes - that we are the Killjoys, that we are the resistance. So it's only right, that 'Danger Days' ends on 'Vampire Money' - a Ramonesy-infused final showdown in support of staying true to art versus commercial success via mainstream bandwagons. My Chemical Romance lay down their Killjoys masks for the album's final song, acknowledging their real-life identities in a nod to rebelling against pressure to record a song for a 'Twilight' Saga movie. 'Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys' is a thrilling listen. If you are also into the business of immensely enjoying the endless escapades of others vicariously, then this is a must-listen... and maybe, the 'Fabulous Killjoys' will inspire some real-life adventures of your own. MUST-LISTEN: 'Bulletproof Heart', 'Vampire Money', 'Planetary (GO!)', 'The Only Hope For Me Is You', 'The Kids From Yesterday'. HEARTOMETER: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + 1/2 [ out of 10 ] YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Neon Trees, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Mindless Self Indulgence, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World... and comic books. WATCH: The 'Art Is The Weapon' trailer... |
