Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge [Red Vinyl Reissue] [PA]

Performer: My Chemical Romance
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: For its major-label debut, My Chemical Romance amps up the melodies in transforming its unique hardcore approach to more of a pop-punk style. To say this Jersey quintet subscribes to the half-empty-glass outlook on love and relationships is like saying Johnny Rotten is a slightly irritable chap. Buried amid the abundant sing-along choruses and the tasty, two-guitar attack of fretburners Ray Toro and Frank Iero is doom-and-gloom imagery that ranges from the suicidal allusions of the soaring "Cemetery Drive" to the murder and firing squads of the insistent "Give 'Em Hell Kid." Frontman Gerard Way exudes plenty of charisma, and his clear and powerful phrasing works well in a format where vocal precision is often an afterthought. In particular, Way shines within the bizarre confines of the quirky "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison" and the subtler nuances of the dream-pop-flavored "The Ghost of You." Falling somewhere between metal and punk with a distinctive pop sensibility, THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE puts My Chemical Romance in line for the kind of success achieved Blink 182. My Chemical Romance's 2002 debut was a particularly strident entry in that shifty genre of bands tortuously slamming together elements of emo, hardcore, and even metal. Rightly signed to a larger label (in this case, Reprise Records), MCR has returned in 2004 with Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. With the aid of production major-leaguer Howard Benson, they've edited the slight rookie excesses of I Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love, resulting in a rewarding, pretty damn relentless product. Ghosts wander through this Sweet Revenge, and the blood-stained lovers of its cover are no joke. "Would I die for you? Well here's your answer in spades...Got you in my sights," Gerard Way wails in "Hang 'Em High." There's also cinematic concepting here -- "The story of a man. A woman. And the corpses of a thousand evil men..." the liners intone. "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison" begins "In the middle of a gunfight/In the center of a restaurant." Musically the cut's claustrophobic, messy, and juiced with adrenaline, just like the Tokyo crime caper shootout it was probably inspired by. Picture antiheroes leaping sideways with twin pistols blaring -- in slow motion, you know -- and you're close. Put an old At the Drive-In record on in the background, and suddenly you're shot in the arm and down to your last clip. Economic, treble-kicking production, consistently hyper, "Let's get to the next note NOW!" instrumentation, and great thematic songwriting -- Three Cheers teems with the influences MCR shares with its peers, but recent efforts from fellow travelers Thursday and A.F.I. don't have this furious immediacy, this coarseness that's so appealing. My Chemical Romance seems to have built-in restrictive bindings that prevent it from flying off the handle into quiet-loud screamo stereotyping or odd-bird stopovers into choral parts or maudlin piano. Something like "Ghost of You" might slow the pace, but it doesn't touch the railing guitars or inventively explosive drumming. Album highlights include the propulsive chain shots "Give 'Em Hell Kid" and "To the End," where layers of vocals increase urgency over modernist post-punk, or the raucous "Thank You for the Venom." There's no question of Reprise's high hopes for My Chemical Romance and Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. But its accessibility pays tribute to anger and bullet holes in black leather. [Reprise issued a special, red vinyl edition in 2008 - complete with alternate cover art.] ~ Johnny Loftus

Rolling Stone (p.120) - 3 stars out of 5 - "SWEET REVENGE has the same shout-along choruses, speedy drums and horror themes that fueled Glenn Danzig's old outfit, but it also adds cool metal licks and a sneaky sense of humor..." Spin (p.63) - Ranked #34 in Spin's "34 Best Albums of the Year" - "[They] take emo to its logical comic-book conclusion on an album with a plot that's like Dante for the Hot Topic crowd."

New Jersey hardcore band My Chemical Romance achieved a surprising degree of success with their Goth-tinged, woe-is-me take on punk. Labeled everything from emo and pop-punk to post-hardcore and screamo, My Chemical Romance are one of several bands from the early 2000s that created a potent, commercially viable blend of all the above subgenres. By also adding touches of metal, glam, and other unexpected sounds, the band has managed to keep things fresh and entertaining amidst all the angst and black eyeliner.

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