ALBUM REVIEW: My Chemical Romance "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killyjoys"

     My Chemical Romance returns after a 4 year hiatus. They follow up their critically acclaimed "The Black Parade" with their post-apocalyptic vision of the future in "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys."

     Clearly inspired by Road Warrior/Mad Max and Power Rangers with a little bit of Akira thrown into the mix, they marked the announcement of their new album with their first single, "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na). It's a great way to start the album, as it's upbeat as ever and lyrically a lot of fun. The album as a whole doesn't have a vast amount of hits like previous albums but there's plenty of bright spots. Their second single "SING" is the first time the album slows its pace and it's a brilliantly simple song that just grew on me. Following "SING" is the tremendously fun, pedal-to-the-metla Planetary (GO!), which happens to be the official theme song of the upcoming racing sim, Gran Turismo 5.

     Other bright spots are the cleverly titled , "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back." It's a fun song with a hook very reminiscent of 90's grunge as Mr. Way wails away. "Party Poison" is another entertaining track but unfortunately sounds a bit too generic for my taste but thankfully not as generic as "The Black Parade's" third single "Teenagers." The track "Destroya" features Way screaming away. The song resembles the band "Coheed and Cambria" but is missing that much needed hook. If you listened to the album you can immediately tell I'm skipping over pretty much all of the slower paced tracks but it's for good reason. They all miss the mark. "Scarecrow, The Only Hopes For Me Is You, The Kids From Yesterday and Summertime" all fall flat. They're not bad songs but there's nothing particularly memorable about them either.  I always felt I didn't care for their slower songs but after re-evaluating their previous albums I realize that, on the contrary, I've loved most of them. (Ghost of You, Demolition Lovers, Cancer)

     I absolutely love the imagery and world they created that the album exists in but musically and lyrically, it falls short. I still think it's a damn good album, though. What's good here is a lot of fun and there's no taking away from that. But comparatively, not quite as the rest of their discography. The vision of the world is amazing and it's why I love My Chemical Romance but the music has to be there too and it just misses the mark of excellence that I hoped it would reach.