My Chemical Romance – Danger Days: Live of the Fabulous Killjoys

After my first listen to Danger Days: Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, my reaction to the album rested nicely somewhere between “meh” and “bleh.” After more than a dozen listens through the record again, I can’t say my initial reaction was necessarily that fair but it is still somewhat accurate.

Now, the first thing you must realize is this not the My Chemical Romance you knew. This is not The Black Parade not is it Three Cheers or I Brought You My Bullets. This is not a re-incarnation of any of those albums and, in fact, the one song that is the closest to old My Chemical Romance (track six, The Only Hope For Me Is You) is oddly forgettable. Instead, this is an epic arena rock record – much bigger in size and scale than The Black Parade without the overtly theatrical presence to it.

On Danger Days: Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys, My Chemical Romance have delivered one of the biggest rock records of the year. It is a grandiose effort unmatched by any other release. They’re pushing boundaries, mixing tempos, trying new things (the Japanese introduction to Party Poison for example) and some of it is mighty impressive; but it falls short in two areas. First, a lot of it seems as if it’s been done before – just in slightly different ways; and secondly, the last half of the album seems to just fall into the background.

It starts off well as our host for the record, Dr. Death Defying introduces the album before they break into the lead single Na Na Na: a thrilling, fast paced song that isn’t nearly as annoying as the name implies. In fact, it’s rather energizing with the group vocals and random effects thrown in for good measure. They continue the uptrend with Bulletproof Heart, the best track of the album by far. On Sing, the second single, they hit their first real snafu. Yes, the song is good with its reserved, Angels and Airwaves quality and vocals that make you want to close your eyes and throw your arms into the air. Sadly, The Dresden Dolls already did a song called Sing with the same intention and they did it much better.

Planetary (Go) is one of the most effect heavy tracks and seems far too danceable for a My Chemical Romance record. If you thought Against Me!’s Stop  was heavy on the high-hat dance beat, wait till you hear this. The pre-chorus, though, is fantastic.

S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W/ picks up where I Don’t Love You left off, as it’s this record’s slow ballad; but it’s still too reserved with Way’s vocals both filtered and muffled in the mix and delivered at an oddly high pitched tone making for one weird delivery style. They pick it up with the whimsical Summertime but I can’t help but hear a massive Joy Division influence and Ian Curtis vibe threaded throughout – only a bit happier. Following that is Destroya, a tribal-influenced cut with heavy Audioslave leanings.

So yes, there’s some moments of shining glory scattered throughout the album but unless you really pay attention, it feels more like background music. I mean, the last two minutes of The Kids from Yesterday are pretty sweet, but I never notice the first three.

Oddly enough, Danger Days remains a ground breaking album, but one that somehow feels as if it’s all been done before; and a few momentarily flashes of brilliance isn’t enough to make you sit through an hour long album over and over again.