My Chemical Romance Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. Release Date : June 8, 2004. Label: Reprise. Rating: Andy doesn't dig rating stuff. This one reads as… well… I don’t know, your average music consumer would look at the back of this CD, read the song titles, and go, “what in the FUCK is this all about??” “You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison,” “Thank You For The Venom,” It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Death Wish.” Even with an open mind, I find this a little overbearing, perhaps pretentiously dark, if there is such a thing. It sucks in a way, because if people are buying albums or even just listening to a band based on a song title that intrigues them… well this might just scare them off. But then again, there’s a large demographic of people that they probably couldn’t care less if they reach, so let them create all the twisted song titles they want to. Because what we actually have here is a pretty amazing rock CD. A bit of the raging madness of a Billy Talent, along with the pop-rock (but stylishly black-wearing) sensibilities of Marvelous 3 (a band that was so very overlooked, but could write one helluva a radio-rock ballad) comprise what we get here. I could go on. There’s brief moments of everything packed in here. AFI fans will love it. Robin Black fans will probably be into it. Anyone who ever hoped Neil Leyton and Conor Oberst could become one person would probably dig this too. The thing is packed with metal riffs, soft portions, unexpected woops and instrument breaks. We’re often suddenly finding ourselves nodding senselessly only to a clap and some background “Wo-oo’s,” or a piano. A piano?? In this style of… wow my head just fell off. Ridiculous. You can’t help but move to this one. Even a friend of mine who happened to listen to this, who is notorious for hating stuff like this, she was givin’ ‘er in the shotgun seat of a car while we sat in an endless border line for Seattle. Great little guitar riffs. There’s a great voice at work here too – angry and somehow childlike. It makes it that much more powerful. “Interlude” begins so much like Radiohead, if you weren’t paying attention, you’d think someone switched CDs on you. That only lasts for about half a minute (ooh, an interlude!) before they turn around and kick your head in again. And that “You Know What They Do…” song is so bouncy and happy at first, kinda swingy. And it rocks. Oh I love it when a good guy yells. Sweet mother… So basically, this is an excellent example of the been-around-for-a-while-but-no-one-wanted-to-admit-it-and-so-it-only-just-got-a-name genre of Gothmo. Self-deprecating, wear a lot of black, make too many death/blood/grave references… it’s less-cheesy than indie-goth (My Chemical Romance isn’t even afraid to sprinkle in some country influences, like on “Thank You For The Venom” and “Cemetary Drive,” but on the same token, aren’t scared to toss in a girlish giggle at the end of a tune here and there), and it’s more punk/loud/obnoxious than baroque or whatever you want to say. Lyric of choice : I’m not o-fucking-kay, from “I’m Not Okay(I Promise)” is neat. See the problem here is that a lot of the lyrics are kinda corny in their gothicness. Kind of pretty at times, poetic, but smarmy as hell. Let’s see here… Awww sugar, step into this tragedy. So go on live your life / but I miss you more than I did yesterday. I don’t know, it’s very interestingly-lyric’d. Song of choice : “The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You.” Rocks. ‘Nuff said. -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere My Chemical Romance website Published : November 15, 2004.