As someone who started listening to classic alternative band My Chemical Romance back in seventh grade and hasn’t stopped loving them since, I’ve been eagerly awaiting more fantastic music from MCR after being terribly disappointed with their fourth and most recent album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoy. Finally, in September, MCR informed their fans that they would be releasing ten previously unreleased tracks, in pairs, over the course of the next five months, with the first pair of sings being released on October 30th and the last pair on February 5th, 2013. Those ten songs make up what the band is calling Conventional Weapons. Number One is the first single in the series, with “Boy Division” as the A track and “Tomorrow’s Money” as the B side track.
While “Boy Division” has a similar sound to Danger Days, it is ultimately reminiscent of the classic, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge My Chemical Romance. With bits of rough, sensationally screamed lyrics – lyrics with themes death mixed with mentions of schools and parties – “Boy Division” is a lyric-lover’s dream. Lines like “I’m not dead I only dress that way”, and even the chorus’s lyrics like “If all my enemies threw a party would you light the candles? Would you drink the wine? While watching television?”, tell of a very poetically put message that screams “Let’s hurry up and get this dying business on with”. It makes sense to me, considering the song title’s play on the classically depressed sounding Joy Division
Number One’s B-side track “Tomorrow’s Money” is another song the lyrics of which just make me sit back and say damn, MCR, you better go ahead. “Tomorrow’s Money” is an incredible anthem for rebellion that speaks of vampires, viruses, machines to keep us alive, and bleeding. At some points, the song sounds a bit more like an actual rebellion march than a song but I swear it makes the song that much more intense. This song features more incredible lines, “I stopped bleeding three years ago while you keep screaming for revolution” and “We got no heroes ‘cause our heroes are dead” being two of the more fantastic of the song. However, nothing tops the climactic end of the song when rough electric guitar and disturbed vocals throw out “Because rebellion ain't a t-shirt you sell. You keep your money and I’ll see you in hell”.
Of all the tortured-punk-teen bands to have lost their original edgy sound, I’m glad a band as great as My Chemical Romance has started to find their way back.Number One was released on October 30thof 2012 but here are the digital release dates for the rest of MCR’s Conventional Weapons.
Title:Number Two
A-side: AMBULANCE
B-side: Gun.
Release date: November 23, 2012.
Title:Number Three
A-side: The World Is Ugly
B-side: The Light Behind Your Eyes
Release date: December 18, 2012
Title:Number Four
A-side: Kiss The Ring
B-side: Make Room!!!!
Release date: January 8, 2013
Title:Number Five
A-side: Surrender The Night
B-side: Burn Bright
Release date: February 5, 2013