My Chemical Romance ‘Danger Days’ Album Preview Review
On the morning of Tuesday, November 9th I got to join a small group of My Chemical Romance fans for a listening party. These were the first fans IN THE WORLD to hear Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys in its entirety. Kind of a big deal, know what I mean?
Now, the above is not anything new to you. You’ve seen the track list. But the three hearted ones are what the group collectively LOVED. The starred ones are my favorites. OKAY LET’S GO THROUGH MY NOTES! Let it be known that I’m an emotional listener when it comes to music–not so much technical. Just because I didn’t write down “SWEET GUITAR RIFF RIGHT THERE BRO” obviously doesn’t mean there weren’t any–that’s just not what I respond to initially. Moving right along…
There were some badass posters there.”Listen Up”, “Do It Now and Do It Loud”, “The Aftermath Secondary”, and “The Future is Bulletproof”–but they are not for the world to see until the 16th, so no pictures. Sorry!
And let’s just get out of the way that I will PROBABLY describe this album as EPIC repeatedly. And to that I say:
3. Bulletproof Heart — one of the fan favorites.
“Gravity don’t mean too much to me / I’m who I’ve got to be / These pigs are after me...”
Total save the world super hero song. Yes, I know, this whole album is set in post-apocalyptic California but it’s JUST SO HOPEFUL.
4. Sing. One of my favorites. I was so excited to hear this song in full because that freakin teaser trailer GAVE ME GOOSEBUMPS. I can’t wait to see the whole video.
5. Planetary (GO!)
“If my velocity starts to make you sweat then don’t let go / The emergency room has no vacancy so we just get up and GO“
This is a very in your face, yell-y song. Go! Pow! Yeah!
6. We’ve all heard this one, so I peered around the room at who was mouthing the words they’d already memorized. I feel like this is already the title of like 4600 fan fiction series. Amirite?
7. “Die with your mask on if you have to…”
8. Party Poison. MY FAVORITE. But it is the song formerly known as ‘Death Before Disco’ and I’ve been in love with it since they played it at the Roxy. Remember? I can’t WAIT to have this one in my itunes. It’s going to be a great crowd participation song, too. Get those CLAPPIN’ HANDS READY.
9. This one is online, and as we know EPIC.
“We could live forever if you’ve got the time”
10. SCARECROW. The album slows down a bit here.
“I’ll keep you safe tonight / everybody hide”
This is a very comforting song to me. Ok, Gerard–I’m going to nap over here and I trust that you’ll laser beam the sh*t out of any bad guys who try to interrupt. I trust you.
11. Summertime
Total run away with me / driving into the sunset song. Happy sigh.
12. DESTROYA. Also a fan favorite.“You don’t like who we are / you don’t like where we’ll go”“You don’t believe in God / I don’t believe in luck / I don’t believe in you / I just believe in the enemy”
13. The Kids From Yesterday
“We don’t care aboutt he message or the rules they make / you only hear the music when your heart begins to break“
Oh hello, favorite lyrics on this album. Well, maybe. It was my favorite at the moment, at least.
14. Goodnite, Dr. Death
(you’ll love what happens right here, after the outro… I wonder if the fan sites spilled the beans on this one already)
15. Vampire Money
“Well you wanna be a movie star? Well you wanna take your band real far?”
Listen here, TWILIGHT–My Chemical Romance doesn’t need you for any of that.
This is an epic album. EPIC EPIC EPIC and I’ll say it again EPIC. Every song has it’s own legs and guts but they so effortlessly make up this larger masterpiece that is Danger Days. It has big ideas and big themes and a real VISION to it. Living forever. Optimism. Defiance. Choices. Heroes and villains. Hope.
It’s so well thought out and detailed–sonically, visually–that I feel like it asks a lot of the people consuming the art. But you ARE going to invest in this album, because so did everyone that helped it come into creation.
I also suspect they might be trying to tell us, in a very subtle way, that they’re super heroes. Would anyone object?
The album comes out on 11/22/10.
