My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge

My Chemical Romance
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Reprise Records
Grade: A-

New Jersey's My Chemical Romance first graced the musical consciousness following the release of their debut I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2003. From that point onward, you could constantly find them on some bill in some city. This included shows in the swath of the U.S. and Western Europe during the following year. Of course, as interest and their following grew there was a natural movement from the small Eyeball Records in New Jersey to bigger things. Although the choice of a major label is debatable, and only time will tell, their signing opens numerous possibilities. Some may get the band's nod to novelist Irvin Welsh, but all will get the band's name etched into their memory.

The first thing to strike you on Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is the majesty of MCR on "Helena." This is mostly attributable to lead singer Gerard Way's vocals and the always climbing guitars by Ray Toro and Frank Iero. MCR has that epic feel of Coheed, but are more down-to-earth and focused on simpler rock anthems. "Give 'em Hell, Kid" follows as more head-straight fast-paced composition illustrating speed. The lyrical blitz on songs like "To the End" show that MCR are heavyweight songwriters, even with only a short affair in this business. To trip things up a bit, MCR give this lounge, up-picking to "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison," before relenting to the punk flash of the chorus. In one of the few instances where a major label is dead on correct for highlighting tracks from indie/punk bands, "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" is the album's highlight by far. Without mimicking any one band or song, MCR succeeds in knocking out possibly the most familiar sounding song possibly ever. When the high-pitched prog guitars come in for the breakdown you think you are rock heaven - and you may just be when they offer up a little piano to instill further drooling. The pure intensity that MCR gives to the recording of "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" is something to behold. If all rock was like this, people would have no time for anything but listening to music. Even if you have written off the marginal genre that MCR falls into, you can't deny the splendid power of "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)." There is some drop off on "The Ghost of You" as may be expected after such a thrilling number. But "The Jetset Like Is Gonna Kill You" picks up any slack left over. The track begins with organs and the drums building as vocals and guitars continue the voyage. To satisfy the band's metal wet dreams, "Thank You For the Venom" begins with pure metal riffage, though the rest of the song takes a while to fulfill some of your melodic dreams. Whistling makes me want to kill people, so when the whistling on "Hang 'em High" moves to power violence I feel happy. "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's A Deathwish" is slightly too average compared with the regalness of other tracks. "Cemetery Drive" gets back on track with Way's opening Coheed-like whispers getting taken over by crescendoing song construction - though slap MCR for dropping the line "singing songs that make you slit your wrists" and similar utterances on "Cemetery Drive." Three Cheers ends on "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living," which is always on the edge of moving to a stunning section but never achieving it.

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is clearly one of the best records so far this year and probably best the rock record Reprise will put out all year. The only slight against the band on Three Cheers is that Way's vocal cadence often follows the same path across the record. I promise to never let a chance to see My Chemical Romance go bye again. I think that we have found a new savior of rock music.