It’s been four years since The Black Parade and the boys are back with a new album. The last album was pretty dark and a bit sad. It had a lot of great songs on it though. This time around, it’s a fast and loud album that will have you rocking out. But like The Black Parade, this album is another story-concept thing. They like to tell a story with the albums and this one follows a group called The Fabulous Killjoys.

It’s in the year 2019 and the Killjoys are out to destroy the evil Better Living Industries. To be honest, I’m way more interested in the songs themselves than the story but the band really enjoys being theatrical on their releases. Mixed in with the songs are radio transmissions from DJ Dr. Death Defying and he narrates a bit of the storyline. Luckily, they’re pretty short so you get back to the music soon.

By now, you’ve probably heard the first two singles, “Na Na Na” and “Sing”. “Na Na Na” is a fast rocking song that just begs to be played loud and sung along to. “Sing” is more of a rock ballad and what I take from it is that everyone has a voice and should use it. You should never let anyone silence you. At one point, Gerard Way sings “You’ve got to make a choice if the music drowns you out/Raise your voice every single time they try and shut your mouth”.

Most songs seem to imply that the Killjoys are fighting a losing war and they know it. But they continue to fight anyway and even manage to have some fun while doing so. And even if they aren’t having fun, I think the listeners will.

I didn’t love every song though but that doesn’t mean they suck. The ones I didn’t like as much were “Planetary (GO!)”, “Party Poison” and “Destroya”. All three of these are very fast songs with a driving beat and while most fans will like them, I just prefer their slower stuff. By slower, I don’t necessarily mean a ballad, I just think they show more of themselves when they don’t seem to rush.

Before I get to my favorites, I’ll list a few of the tracks that I really like, but like just a bit less. “Bulletproof Heart” gets slower at times but speeds up at times and even has a nice guitar solo in the middle. “The Only Hope For Me Is You” starts off slow and steady and builds up with a very nice chorus.

“Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back” is about knowing it’s about to end and wanting to go out fighting. My favorite line is “I’ll tell you all how the story ends/Where the good guys die and the bad guys win/Who cares”.

Now I’ll get to my favorite tracks of the album. The first is “S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W” and is apparently a character in the story that is after the Killjoys. But it’s a great track. Way sings almost robotic in the verse and has a nice falsetto in the chorus. This one will be a huge hit for their concerts and will have everyone singing along.

“Summertime” is an actual ballad or love song from the band. I’m not used to hearing this from them but it’s awesome. It has an 80’s feel to it and is one that you do have to check out. You’ll be hearing it on the radio soon, I’m sure.

“The Kids From Yesterday” should be another single and is also a song that fans will sing along with at shows. In the chorus, Way sings “And you only live forever in the lights you make/When we were young we used to say/That you only hear the music when your heart begins to break/Now we are the kids from yesterday”. I just love the lines there. You only live forever if you leave a mark big enough to last. If no one remembers you when you die, then you’re really gone. And music absolutely seems to really hit you and make sense when your heart is broken or you’re down. To me, it seems like the song is about the band maturing and growing up but who knows.

The last track, “Vampire Money” is a very fast track but I love it. The song opens up with “3..2..1, we came to f**k. Everybody party till the gasman comes” and just takes off from there. It’s fast and it’s fun. I read that the band was asked to make a song for one of the Twilight movies. I don’t really know if it’s the newest one or not because I don’t follow those movies. Anyway, the band didn’t do a song for the movie but people were really trying to get them to do it. So this is a song about selling out and getting some of that “vampire money”. Good for them.

This band seems to try and do something different with each album, which is great. You can tell they don’t want to get complacent and rely on the same old thing. It’s a very nice album that has a good mix of fast songs and slower ones. The lyrics are exceptional in most tracks and you’ll be singing along with the chorus of several songs.

Usually, I hear people say they don’t like My Chemical Romance because they are too “emo”. Well, the makeup is gone and while they still have a desire for the dramatic, there’s a lot of new stuff here to draw in some additional fans. Check it out for yourself but make sure you give “S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W”, “Summertime” and “The Kids From Yesterday” a listen.

Subscribe to Bill Hustle -- The Hustle Chronicles by Email

Get 5,000+ new Twitter followers every month