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MetalHammerPresentsMyChemicalRomance3rdEdition2022

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Published by lib.kolejkomunitikb, 2022-04-22 22:16:03

MetalHammerPresentsMyChemicalRomance3rdEdition2022

MetalHammerPresentsMyChemicalRomance3rdEdition2022

With Danger Days’ ray gun-toting thematics
upon them, in 2010 Ray Toro and Frank Iero
revealed the truth behind MCR’s futuristic

final venture.

WORDS: MATTHEW PARKER

Despite what you may have heard, it’s not every bits of contemporary music from the 1950s to the 2020s.
day a journalist turns up for an interview to “I guess that one thing we had talked about is,
find a group of rock stars semi-conscious on
the floor of a five-star hotel room. But this was ‘What would My Chemical Romance sound like in the
the sight that greeted us at the Royal Garden year 2019?’” explains a clearly excited Ray, distinctive
Hotel in Kensington, West London. for both his awe-inspiring barnet and his equally cool
Steven Tyler voice. “This was supposed to be music
“They’ve been doing press and radio for about three from the future. There are elements of sci-fi running
weeks straight now,” says My Chemical Romance’s PR throughout, so that really had an influence on the tones
as we step over the Gerard Way-shaped pile on the floor. we were choosing. We tried to make our guitars recreate
Fortunately, as we’re guided into one of two conference the sound of lasers and synthesisers.”
suites the record label have booked out, we find
guitarists Frank Iero and Ray Toro in more sprightly form. Of course, all of their hard work crafting tones would
And for good reason. New album Danger Days: The True mean diddly squat if Frank and Ray’s playing had gone
Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys is a revelation. Unapologetic down the pan, but Danger Days represents a big step
in both its science-fiction stylings and its complete forward for the two guitarists. The album’s solos are
disregard for genre convention, it’s the Back To The particularly special. At once extravagant and soulful yet
Future of rock’n’roll – a light-speed trip through the best never outstaying their welcome, they form many of the
album’s best moments.

“WHAT WOULD MY CHEMICAL
ROMANCE SOUND LIKE IN THE YEAR 2019?”

RAY WAS FEELING PHILOSOPHICAL

METALHAMMER.COM 101

DRAWING “I don’t like to overdo it,” says Ray when asked how
INSPIRATION he approached the task. “Certain songs call for certain
things. Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back is an arena rock
The comic concept song, so the solo for that had to be really energetic,
behind the new look whereas S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W is more epic and psychedelic,
so the solo for that song has some harmonies and octave
The setting and the umbrella concept of it,” work in it. Or Summertime, the way I thought about that
explains Frank, “stem from a comic idea song was that it should remind you of days gone past, so
that Gerard and our friend Shaun Simon the solo is more of a melody.”
were working on. They still are, actually. But the
actual storyline that takes place in the videos and Not only a progression in their musical understanding,
who represents what and the look of it – that all and their ability to express it, this record also shows the
came about throughout the writing of the album. guitarists’ dedication to always serving the songs.
The songs sort of told us what they wanted to be
and that kind of dictated the visual key.” “There’s no overplaying,” says Frank. “I think there
might have been some pitfalls in the past, where you
This ain’t The Black Parade II, though. As Frank start layering things and parts get doubled and there’s
is keen to point out: “This is not a concept album!” like a fucking stack…”

“And you’re just not hearing anything any more,” adds
Ray. “On this record there’s a lot of breathing room and it
was about what melodies we wanted to maximise and
sometimes that meant not playing at all. That is, I think,
a mature decision that the band made.”

‘Mature’ pretty much covers it. For all of Danger Days’
gleeful experimentation, it’s clear that MCR themselves
are growing up. You can’t blame the band for wanting to
move on and put their last album behind them. Not only
were they the subjects of a media witch-hunt regarding

102 METALHAMMER.COM

GREG WATERMANN/PRESS

the harmful effects of emo music, but The Black Parade second that we were rewriting the record.”
eventually restricted their performances and creativity. That “little bit of inspiration” turned out to be Na Na

“When we were playing shows, it wasn’t My Chemical Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na), a blistering garage-
Romance,” says Ray, “it was ‘The Black Parade’ and we punk brat of a tune that became the lead single and
were definitely trying to embody a different persona. linchpin for the whole album. “Then came Vampire Money,
We were being antagonistic and shitty to the audience Planetary (GO!), SING,” offers Frank. “It was like,
and kind of punishing them. It was like putting on ‘Whoa, this is what we should have been doing!’”
a stage show and it started to feel like it was rehearsed.
The way we’re playing now is very, very different.” “Those songs came out like a torrent – it felt like
we had gotten our creativity back,” continues Ray.
In contrast to the morbid pop-gothery of their last “We were doing the things we felt like doing.”
full-length, Danger Days is an exhilarating, futuristic
blast through riffy garage rock, dance beats and the kind So, what was the band’s mindset going into those
of solos you’ll want to rewind. In short, where The Black sessions? “It could have been a band that was very
Parade was about death, Danger Days is very much about depressed and who had worked for a year and then was
life and what life has the potential to be. Having set out starting over again,” says Frank. “But I think, because of
with a ‘back to basics’ mantra, it was actually discarding the songs we ended up writing when
such restrictions that allowed the group to progress. we were finally ‘free’, what you’re
getting is a band that’s in a
“We didn’t feel like we had taken the band to the next creative wave and it just so
level,” says Frank of the “20 or 30” songs they had happened that the Record button
written initially. “The rules we had set up for ourselves was down. It was like, ‘All right, the
actually held us back, so we took a week off and had sky’s the limit!’”
a little bit of inspiration. We didn’t think for one
“That had to be the mindset,”

PRESS X2

METALHAMMER.COM 103

agrees Ray. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have written a good “In some bands, the only time you get to be creative is in
record at all.” the studio. That sucks. If that muscle isn’t worked…”

Now is a time of celebration for MCR: they’ve found a “You start losing it,” chips in Ray. So, now it’s all about
way to enjoy themselves again. Instead of becoming a keeping the ball rolling? “Exactly,” he replies. “The way
weight around their necks, the Danger Days sessions have we toured before, we rarely got days off. I think the way
re-energised the band, allowing them to find new sources we’re going to do it now is be a little smarter. If we’re in
of inspiration. “While we were recording Planetary (GO!), a city that has a great studio and we have something
we turned all the lights off and brought out this strobe,” new to track, then that’s a great way to spend a day.”
says Frank, recounting one of his favourite moments in
the studio. “It made us all feel sick the whole time!” It’s a Bob Dylan-esque ‘don’t look back’ attitude to
creativity, the kind that focuses on constant reinvention,
“You could watch the drum booth on a big plasma and that has led to the band writing a noticeably varied
screen in the control room,” remembers Ray, recalling collection of songs. But how exactly does a guitarist react
their session drummer John Miceli’s role in the madness. to playing a rebel dance song from 2019? “For me, that’s
“And all you saw was these flashing lights and this the best thing about being a musician,” says Ray. “It’s
motherfucker on the drums, just shredding them!” finding those challenges. Every song was its own little
entity and adventure.”
However, the guitarist reckons the memory that will
stay with him the longest was the sense of being part of But experimentation comes at a cost. “There were a
a community – albeit one armed with plastic ray guns couple of things that went a little too far,” admits Frank.
and wearing road warrior costumes.
Thankfully, though, quality control prevailed. “One of
“We’d be working on one song, just starting to flesh the engineers had been working with drum loops and
it out,” Ray tells us, “and Frank would be in the back ‘re-imagining’ this song,” says Ray. “I remember hearing
writing guitar parts, and then Mikey or Gerard would it and I literally almost put my fist through the screen!
be on the keyboards writing something. It was really I was like, ‘No! This is not the song! This is horrible!’”
cool and the record was definitely a community project.
That’s my favourite memory of the whole thing.” Through all this reinvention, however, Danger Days has
emerged triumphant. And just as Dylan turned his back
Having fought to get their muse back, MCR are careful on the stifling folk scene by ‘going electric’, MCR have
not to undervalue it. “A fun concept for us is to constantly finally shaken the emo tag. The Killjoys are the
stay creative, even during the touring cycle,” says Frank. sound of the future.

PRESS

104 METALHAMMER.COM

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Shying away from the limelight never took away
from the younger Way’s importance to MCR.

WORDS: TOM DOYLE • PICTURE: FONTAINE/PHOTOSHOT

To some, Mikey Way will always just be Gerard anxiety would eventually manifest itself in serious
Way’s little brother; the kid who got dragged booze-fuelled, bipolar episodes during the recording
into My Chemical Romance to play bass even of The Black Parade, with the guitarist finally having
though at the time he could barely strum a to take himself out of the firing line, staying with
note. But the reality is that what the younger friends of the band to get some much-needed
Way sibling lacked in immediate musical talent, he made psychological help.
up for in go-getting attitude.
“I didn’t really leave the band – I just left the house
“My first breakthrough with bass playing was during where we were living,” he explained to Concord
one of the first MCR practises in December of 2001,” Monitor. “When I first left, I was worried about how I’d
he told Music Radar earlier in 2013. “Gerard and Ray be able to handle it. But then, by going through the
both coached me as I hadn’t had a great deal of bass proper channels, it all started getting better.”
experience up to that point. When I got the picking
pattern/timing for Our Lady Of Sorrows down, I had Having battled his way through addiction, Mikey
a total ‘wow’ moment and knew that not only did I love increasingly rose to the forefront of MCR, the exertion of
it, but I would play the bass forever.” his musical influence over the band no more noticeable
than on their final full-length, Danger Days. It’s a record
Dropping out of college to join Gerard and Ray Toro in full of the style, vivacity and characterisation of David
the fledgling band, it was he who famously named them, Bowie, an artist both Way brothers have professed to
based on the title of Irvine Welsh’s novel Ecstasy: Three love over the years.
Tales Of Chemical Romance.
Mikey’s artistic endeavours are not strictly limited
Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, his musical to the musical realm, though. In 2008, he created an
upbringing was similar to his brother’s, the likes of eight-page comic for DC, focused around Batman and
Iron Maiden and the Misfits playing alongside English his nemesis Scarecrow, proving it’s not just Gerard who
indie from The Smiths to Blur and Pulp. Yet that knows what’s up when it comes to concocting scenarios
penchant for flamboyant, effervescent performers for superheroes and villains to play in.
didn’t always translate into a big personality of his
own. From the earliest days of My Chemical Romance, Ultimately, the story of Mikey Way is one that
Mikey shied away from the spotlight, allowing the rest embodies the punk-rock spirit in its truest form. Perhaps
of the band to face the glare of the media as they set not the most naturally gifted musician, he applied
about climbing the slope to stardom. himself to the challenge of being in a band with a quiet
and understated dedication. Growing from the meek,
In particular, Mikey found the art of being on stage pretty-faced one at the back to a fully fledged rock star
a difficult one to master, often drinking to excess in by the time of the band’s eventual split, he has remained
the early days to numb the nervousness of playing consistently relatable, no matter how many tens of
live. That alcohol dependency gradually developed into thousands of people My Chemical Romance play to, or
drug abuse, with the young bass player hitting harder how many Number One records they rack up. A nice kid
substances to cope with bigger stages. Overwhelming from New Jersey done good. What’s not to love?

“I KNEW I WOULD PLAY BASS FOREVER”

106 METALHAMMER.COM

METALHAMMER.COM 107

Proving once again that he is indeed a man of many talents,
Gerard Waycontinued to showcase his passion for

comic books with 2013’s The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys.

WORDS: STEPHEN JEWELL • IMAGES: © DARK HORSE & RESPECTIVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS

T here’s always been a comic book/rock music
crossover, from the Kiss comics of the 70s to Paul
McCartney singing about the Titanium Man. But
never has a rock star made quite such an assured
impact on the medium as Gerard Way.
With the first two series of The Umbrella Academy five or
so years back, Way proved there were more strings to his
bow than music making, but now he’s formed a veritable
comic book super-group, recruiting co-writer Shaun
Simon and artist Becky Cloonan (Batman, Buffy The
Vampire Slayer) on his latest Dark Horse offering, The True

Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys – and it’s as impressive
as The Umbrella Academy ever was.
Spinning out of the New Jersey rockers’
fourth and final album, Danger Days, the six-part

series has quickly surpassed all expectations, with
May’s teaser issue becoming this year’s Free
Comic Book Day’s most sought-after item.
Then, having held its own against the
summer’s inevitable tide of crossover
titles from the Big Two (Marvel and
DC), the clamour surrounding June’s
debut issue continued to build. Make
no mistake: this My Chemical Romance
spin-off is very much its own project, as
well as being one of the year’s hottest comic
books. “I’ve got to be honest, I’ve never seen
a reaction like this to anything I’ve been
a part of, with people immediately and
across the board loving it like that,”
reflects Gerard himself. “Obviously some
people won’t like it, but I’ve got a feeling
it’ll be quite a while before we hear from
them. I’m stunned, as there wasn’t

108 METALHAMMER.COM

even this kind of reaction to the to us, and it means that we really did know what we were
first Umbrella Academy. doing in setting out to tell a good story.”
I personally went into that
very confidently, and the However, having flown solo on 2007’s The Umbrella
reaction was great, but this Academy: Apocalypse Suite, and on its 2008 follow-up
blows that away. Dallas, Gerard took some persuading that writing with
someone else this time would be a good idea.
“It also feels free of hype. Dark Horse did a
really cool job in letting people know that this book was “I had a lot of growing up to do,” he admits. “Shaun
coming out, while not overdoing it. So people still got to and I have been friends for a long time, and I’ve always
discover it on their own – it hasn’t been jammed down known how creative he is. He really is an abstract
anyone’s throats.” thinker, and that’s what I look for in a partner. So one
of the things I had to learn was the immediate trust
Gerard first began formulating the basic idea for The necessary in a collaboration. I had to resist not sitting
True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys in the early 00s. It was there and micro-managing everything.
formally announced by Dark Horse as far back as 2009,
and the dystopian rock’n’roll sci-fi epic has been in the “When I first did Umbrella Academy, I had yet to develop
pipeline ever since. Co-writer Shaun Simon once played a strong relationship with the artist, Gabriel Bá, so a lot of
in a band with My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank my early scripts were, like, super-dense, Alan Moore-style
Iero, so he’s a long-time associate of the singer. paragraphs, which really translates as me trying to control
everything that’s happening on the page.”
“It’s pretty incredible,” says Shaun of his first foray
into comics. “It’s something that’s been in our heads for
five years and, having worked on it for that long, you
start to lose a lot of perspective – you can’t look at it with
clean eyes any more. But from all the press and reviews
we’ve been getting, it’s great to know that our work is
having such an impact on readers. It really means a lot

“I HAD A LOT OF GROWING UP TO DO”

GERARD ON CHANGING TACT FOR THIS PARTICULAR PROJECT

METALHAMMER.COM 109

Once any initial hurdles were overcome, he and Shaun Demeter and Wolves – so she’s nothing if not versatile.
hit the ground running. “I started getting stuff back Wide-ranging though her career has been, though,
and straight away there was this feeling that this person The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys is surely the New
may even get it more than I do,” Gerard says. “In a really York-based cartoonist’s most high-profile assignment
positive way, I guess I just learned to ‘love the bomb’, and yet. “I’m really psyched that I’ve been on board this
I got really comfortable with collaborating and letting go book for so long, and been able to see its development,”
of the stuff that we were doing together. It felt amazing, as she says. “There’s an aspect of being hands-off, as I let
he was chiming in with equal impact and enthusiasm; the Gerard and Shaun do the scripts and then they let me do
pages would come back different but in a good way, like the thumbnails and hand in the art. I like to think that
they were improved.” there’s been a lot of collaboration, and we went through
a few rounds of back and forth before I dived into it.
Despite all this free-form thinking, however, Gerard I wasn’t afraid to ask to change things if I saw a better
and Shaun actually stuck closely to the traditional way of doing a particular scene.”
full-script format.
Expanding on concepts and characters that first
“That was a very strong rule with me from early on, appeared on Danger Days and the videos for its singles,
when I was first doing Umbrella Academy,” the frontman like Na Na Na, SING and the Warren Ellis-riffing Planetary
says. “I was, like, ‘There’s not going to be any kind of (GO!), Gerard and Shaun insist that The True Lives Of The
cheating,’ which is why the original series and then Dallas Fabulous Killjoys is not just a sequence of glorified album
both took so long to write. The difference between a real notes, but its own entity.
project and a vanity project is that with a real project
there can be no corner-cutting.” “To start with, we thought it was going to relate really
closely thematically,” Gerard says, “but one of the best
Shaun adds, “Another big factor is that Becky didn’t parts about this team is the ability of everyone involved
just take our scripts and draw exactly what we told her. to be able to bend in a positive way by dodging bullets,
She put her own twist on it. That’s how you get the best altering paths and changing footing. It relates directly in
work out of anyone. You don’t try and restrain them – you terms of the storyline, but we worked very hard to make
believe in them and you let them do their own thing.” sure nobody needed to see the videos or have the album to
understand it. You can just pick up the first issue and go!”
Becky Cloonan’s CV includes illustrating Brian Wood’s
Conan The Barbarian, and joining forces with Kelly Sue “There’s no exclusion,” agrees Becky. “It fuses
DeConnick on Spider-Man off-shoot Osborn – not to alchemically with the album, but if you know the
mention creating her own self-published titles, such as

“I’VE NEVER SEEN A REACTION LIKE THIS TO
ANYTHING I’VE BEEN A PART OF” GERARD FEELS THE LOVE

110 METALHAMMER.COM

GETTY/GREGG DEGUIRE

METALHAMMER.COM 111

videos and the lyrics, you’ll get more out of it.” none other than legendary comic writer Grant
Indeed, there are many subtle details for fans to pick Morrison in the Na Na Na and SING videos.
“There’s so much crazy shit in this,” laughs
up on – such as the mysterious yellow mask that main Gerard. “The fact that he is in the comic is nuts! I
protagonist The Girl stumbles across in the first issue. know Grant has put himself in his own comics before,
“If you know anything about the videos then you’ll get but this is slightly different. He’s been very important
it but even if you don’t, there’s a reference to what the to the project because, first of all, he’s like the point of
mask is. Then you start to see stuff like the mailbox origin for my influences, with The Invisibles and, more
in there. A lot of thought went into those elements. importantly, his impact on 90s comics. I’ll probably never
It means that we don’t have to over-explain, but it all get over the fact that he’s now a character in a comic I
connects to that world.” wrote, but it really feels like a lot of stuff is now coming
full circle.”
Perhaps thanks to her vague moniker and somewhat “I met Grant for the first time at New York Comic Con
elusive personality, Becky initially struggled to pinpoint last year,” says Becky. “He was introduced to me at a DC
exactly who The Girl was. “I had a hard time nailing down party and I was like, ‘I’m drawing you!’ It’s been really
her design,” she says. “I don’t know if it was her face, a weird, but I’ve tried to approach it like, on one level I’m
gesture, her posture or something with her hair, but one day drawing Grant Morrison in his awesome frilly shirt and
she suddenly kind of looked different. I was like, ‘I’ve finally his kinky outfit, but on another, I’m also drawing the
got it!’ I remember showing it to Gerard and Shaun and they character – and that’s always the image that’s at the top
both agreed. I think I’ve still got that very drawing.” of my head. He’s in the videos, but that’s where it ends
visually – I’m not drawing Grant Morrison; it’s Korse.”
“I remember Becky trying really hard to inject something As Gerard confirms, though, Morrison really made his
of the Ramones into her silhouette, because that band presence felt on set. “Grant is a method actor,” he laughs.
was so important to this story,” adds Gerard. “I remember “You’d know this from meeting him, or reading his
seeing her final design and thinking, ‘You know, if you work. As soon as he was in costume, he got a lot
look at her in silhouette, it could be Johnny Ramone.’” quieter. But when he went into action, he didn’t
hold anything back. He was really grabbing my
Another character that Becky at first felt daunted face in those scenes! Then he stood rigid in the
by was the sinister Korse, who was brought to life by desert in that heat, and he was the only one not
moving. The Draculoids [the project’s scary-
masked stooges] were just goofing around, but
he was literally just standing there. I was like,
‘Holy shit, he really is Korse right now!’”

112 METALHAMMER.COM

SIMPLY MARVEL-LOUS

When comics and rock’n’roll collide...

ROB ZOMBIE LORDI

What with his penchant for theatrics, A mere 500 copies of this comic were originally
horror and anything vaguely gory, it’s released, and they were only made available
hardly surprising that old Bobby Z has to people who bought Lordi’s debut single
brought out his own comic line too. As Would You Love A Monsterman? in 2002. It
well as the well-received Rob Zombie’s stars the Finnish Eurovision slayers and
Spookshow, in 2008 the bearded features fake adverts for products such as
behemoth put together a comic Kita’s Blood Drops and Lordi Trading Cards.
We can only imagine what’s in those Blood
version of his would-be horror epic, Drops, though…
Werewolf Women Of The SS.
KISS
ANTHRAX
There isn’t a piece of merchandise on the face of the
Not only have the Bronx legends had album and DVD Earth Kiss can’t put their name on, so it’s no surprise
artwork designed by esteemed comic illustrators that their 1977 collaboration with Marvel was the first
in the past, and written a whole song about Judge of many forays into the comic world – and it featured
Dredd with I Am The Law, but guitarist Scott Ian the mixing of the band’s own blood into the red ink
actually had a stint drawing legendary DC anti-hero used in the illustrations! Rock’n’roll…
Lobo in November 2009!
DANZIG
MEGADETH
Never one to shy away from doing things his
Back in ’97, Megadeth penned a deal own way, the man they call the Metal Elvis
with Chaos! Comics to produce a special founded his own series Verotika back in the
four-issue mini-series starring band early 90s, quickly setting up a template
mascot Vic Rattlehead! The comic had that was usually filled with blood, guts and
Vic serving as narrator for a Tales From boobies. Which, coincidentally, are believed
The Crypt-style series of horror tales. Of to be the top three things that Danzig fans
course, the real question is, when are love the most.

we gonna get a Vic versus Eddie comic? COHEED AND CAMBRIA

STONE SOUR As if their brand of catchy, twiddly prog rock wasn’t
enough to give fans everywhere multiple nerdgasms,
Corey Taylor took his bold vision for the expansive, furry boffins Coheed And Cambria’s entire discography
two-disc beast that was House Of Gold & Bones to is actually inspired by an ongoing storyline invented
new heights by putting together a House Of Gold & by frontman Claudio Sanchez. Named The Amory Wars
Bones comic mini-series. Like Gerard, Corey went to and based in another universe, a comic book adaptation
Dark Horse to help him with his ideas, enlisting art by emerged in the mid-2000s.
Richard P. Clark and covers by Shawn Alexander.
Nice work.

METALHAMMER.COM 113

“THESE PERFORMANCES STILL SEEM
DANGEROUS AND BEAUTIFULLY RAMSHACKLE”

114 METALHAMMER.COM

The Chems’ live DVDs revisited.

WORDS: TERRY BEZER PHOTO: MICK HUTSON/GETTY

LIFE ON THE MURDER SCENE (2006)

T his collection begins with a mixed bag of a live shows the
album from the Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge workings of
era. The material captured at the MTV $2 Bill and a band from
Starland concerts perfectly captures the kind of live inside the
band MCR were at that point in time. Even seven years belly of the
after its release, these performances still seem dangerous beast as they
and beautifully ramshackle – it feels like they could capture the
derail at any time, but never do. These songs would be hearts and
considered art punk for their viciousness and sheer edge minds of
alone, if it wasn’t for the fact that the melodies are pure a generation.
pop (im)perfection. From the
earliest days
The AOL sessions are a lot more controlled and feel to becoming
meek in comparison, and you have to question why they a once-in-a-
were included on the audio portion of this collection. lifetime band,
A band can never truly recreate the mayhem of a live the documentary footage is breathtaking, as are the
show in a sterile studio, and that really shows when these live performances and stunning videos from the Three
songs are put next to the apocalyptic brilliance of the Cheers era, which are captured on Disc 2. Quite simply,
tracks that preceded them. these DVDs are essential for any MCR aficionado.

Faring much better are the two DVDs. The first disc

THE BLACK PARADE IS DEAD! (2008)

H ow do you perfectly document something that band would
continues to be arguably the greatest live rock ever perform
spectacle of the 21st century? You can never do as The Black
a show of that magnitude and splendour true justice, Parade adds
but filming it in front of 20,000 fanatical fans in Mexico an extra
City certainly is a good try. If the Three Cheers tour was dimension
menacing and malignant, The Black Parade’s was all to an already
about theatre and majestic grandeur… all of which makes dramatic
the audio CD a little bit redundant because the real treat performance.
on this tour – and consequently this package – is in the
visuals. Best of all
is the limited-
Gerard fully embraces the Freddie Mercury school edition, coffin-
of showmanship, hamming up every last second with shaped box set
triumphant gestures and OTT grandiosity. The highlight of the package
of this is the frontman’s arrival during The End, that included a
appearing in a hospital bed, on a drip, before tearing off death certificate and a mask designed by one of the band
his dressing gown to reveal his Black Parade uniform. members themselves. This highly collectable edition sold
out almost instantly when it was first released, and now
The band themselves, united as an army in their Black goes for high prices on eBay on the rare occasions it rears
Parade regalia, reveal one of rock’s all-time most iconic its head. Good luck finding one…
looks. That this collection also captures the last show the

METALHAMMER.COM 115

REPRISE, 2012/13

MCR’s curious final bow proved a mixed bag.

WORDS: TOM DOYLE

C onventional Weapons is something of an sit quite comfortably alongside MCR’s finest songs,
oddity in the My Chemical Romance back pumping along like a battered old car whose wheels
catalogue, being, as it is, made up of cuts are about to fall off, before crashing into a brilliantly
that were deemed unsuitable or simply dead-eyed break. Meanwhile, Tomorrow’s Money is soaked
not good enough for their eventual final in pissed-off attitude, its shades of lo-fi garage punk
deliciously rendered by axemen Frank Iero and Ray Toro,
album proper, Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous both men sounding like they’re giving their instruments
hell from the very first second to the very last.
Killjoys. The band released these 10 tracks as five
There are some missteps, however. Make Room!!!! is
singles between October 2012 and February 2013 before a somewhat tiresome yap-along which goes nowhere and
takes far too long doing it, while AMBULANCE is about as
promptly splitting up in March, making this hotchpotch cookie-cutter as you could possibly imagine, sounding
more like an average My Chemical Romance cover band
of nearly-made-its the band’s final communiqué with rather than the real deal. That being said, the scales are
firmly in favour of the pros rather than the cons and
fans. Nevertheless, a five-month distribution period did across these 10 tracks there’s plenty enough proof of what
excellent and enduring songwriters MCR were.
allow for a lushly-packaged vinyl box set to be produced
Ultimately, Conventional Weapons falls down if you try
and, as collector’s items go, it’s a thing of multicoloured, to consider it as you would a normal album. There’s no
real flow or structure to speak of – no beginning, middle
analogue beauty. or end. More interestingly, though, it serves as a marker
for the evolution the band took in making Danger Days;
It’s not just the presentation that’s decent, either. As that album is so utterly focused on narrative, no doubt
as a result of the storyless nature of this collection.
far as the tunes go, there are a couple of tracks on here
These five singles are best treated as a work in progress,
which are, frankly, better than the stuff that made it on then; the thing that got MCR to where they eventually
went. Enjoy the best of these weapons and discard the
to Danger Days. Naturally, there’s a sense that this is not worst and you’ll certainly find a couple of treats with
which to arm yourself.
a body of work that has been moulded and structured in

the way that a regular album might, but that’s not to say

it feels all over the shop. These are songs that were all

written in the same sessions and there’s a certain level of

clarity to what the band were evidently trying to achieve.

Sonically, it’s pitched somewhere between Three Cheers

For Sweet Revenge and Danger Days – the vibe is punky,

full of anthemic pizzazz and imbued with a pleasingly

raw streak that was all but entirely removed from what

the band eventually did release as their fourth ‘proper’

album. Opener Boy Division is a total screamer that could

“THERE’S PLENTY ENOUGH PROOF OF WHAT
EXCELLENT AND ENDURING SONGWRITERS

MCR WERE”

116 METALHAMMER.COM

METALHAMMER.COM 117

PRESS

118 METALHAMMER.COM

Four groundbreaking albums.
The most devoted fanbase in music.

History-making festival sets.
And then, out of the blue,
MCR were no more…

WORDS: TERRY BEZER

t wasn’t supposed to go down like this. My Chemical its work and its fans, but was swift to say that it was very
much a case of “if you weren’t there in those 12 years
I Romance had stood out on the rock scene for over then you missed out”.
a decade as one of the most explosive and unique
bands of all time, but they chose to go out on what Ray Toro posted a new song called Isn’t That Something
is arguably their weakest album to date. And after just 48 hours after the split. Mikey Way, meanwhile,
12 years of shows that always burst with passion and was tweeting about a new musical venture seven days
theatrical spectacle, it would have been a catastrophe to after the break-up, and Iero himself performed a new
go out on some of those lacklustre displays of their final song called Going Off Track at the Union Hall in Brooklyn
days – but so it came to be. after just over two weeks. Basically, the message was
like a cannon blast: MCR were over and the band were
It came on March 22, 2013, in the shape of a short, all working on their own material.
incisive blog on the band’s website. Six sentences and a
picture of Houdini ushered in the end of an era. And what of the band’s mouthpiece and spiritual
leader? Gerard was already working on solo material
“Beyond any sadness, what I feel the most is pride,” before the band split. Demos of two songs, Zero Zero
tweeted Gerard Way. He went on to post a blog about and Millions began circulating online before MCR’s split.
freeing a trapped bird from his house, and while fans His solo career officially got under way in 2014 with the
speculated that this, along with the Houdini picture, was Hesitant Alien album hitting the Top 20 in the US and UK.
a metaphor that the band were to continue under a new
name to get out of their record contract, it was always Since then, Gerard has focussed on his comic book
the longest of long shots that this would be the case. career, writing for Marvel’s Edge Of Spider-Verse, creating
Gerard himself admitted in his blog that he thought the his own Young Animal series as part of DC’s Doom Patrol
band was done because he felt himself “acting”. The reality imprint and helping adapt The Umbrella Academy for TV.
of the situation was clear: after 12 years and just four
albums, My Chemical Romance were done. But music was never far away. Gerard reunited with
his brother Mikey for 2018’s Baby You’re Haunted House
Frank Iero posted his own blog, one that was far more standalone single and teamed-up with Ray Toro on the
straightforward than his bandmate’s. Honest, direct and same year’s Getting Down With The Germs. Suddenly,
razor-sharp, it expressed nothing but love for the band, a MCR comeback didn’t look so outlandish.

“BEYOND ANY SADNESS, WHAT
I FEEL THE MOST IS PRIDE” GERARD HAD NO REGRETS

METALHAMMER.COM 119

120 METALHAMMER.COM

In 2020, My Chemical Romance announced the news
every fan wanted to hear: that they were reuniting.

This is how it happened – and what comes next.

WORDS: MARIANNE ELOISE • PICTURE: MARK SULLIVAN/GETTY

t all started, as so much does, on Instagram. My quickly jumped on the account and the couple of cryptic
crumbs that it dropped. Is it real? What does this mean?
I Chemical Romance, dormant since they announced A candle could mean rebirth… was Joe Jonas telling the
their breakup in 2013, launched an official page. truth when he said he saw them in the studio?
There wasn’t much to it: a profile picture featuring
a black and white rune-style candle, a few cryptic On Halloween 2019, fittingly, the account finally posted
stories. Keen-eyed, desperate fans who had been putting On Grid, and fans immediately descended. A tour flyer
together crumbs of “hints” at a comeback for seven years with two stone angels and the words RETURN in capital

METALHAMMER.COM 121

“RATHER THAN WANING, MY CHEMICAL
ROMANCE’S INFLUENCE HAS ONLY INCREASED”

letters accompanied by a venue: the Shrine Expo Hall Milton Keynes that June, which prompted some memes
in Los Angeles. A date: December 20th. And a caption: and a lot of confusion. The first sold out in minutes - as
“Like Phantoms Forever”, a reference to the closing track did the second and the third. A North American tour soon
from I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, followed, cementing what had been clear for a while: My
Demolition Lovers. The tickets were extortionate ($150) Chemical Romance were back. They were ready for global
but fans didn’t care: they booked flights, they refreshed domination, to knock their imitators off the top spot and
Ticketmaster, they begged their friends to come. Few give their fans a reason to live again.
lucky ones got in – it sold out in four minutes flat.
As it turns out, the only comeback that would come to
Few bands could command the level of dedication pass in the end would be the Los Angeles appearance.
and obsession that My Chemical Romance always Really nerdy fans believed that the show was prophesied
have, particularly after so many years away. Rather in Danger Days, an album whose story is set in a post-
than waning, their influence only increased as a new apocalyptic California in 2019. The concert itself, as
generation of emos unearthed the discography of a band told by people who were there, was a very special,
who had once been the subject of one of the mid-00s relatively small return to form for the band. According to
most memorable moral panics. Clearly, they feel how Consequence of Sound, Way cried, “This was a magical
much their presence was wanted, their fans’ ouija board night, we’re having so much fun!” Rolling Stone captured
efforts calling them earthside. the energy, reporting on costumed fans and declaring: “If
this band excels at anything beyond their riffs, it’s their
My Chemical Romance announced 2020 dates in matchless flair for drama.”
Australia, Japan and New Zealand just a week after the
first big reveal. On the day of the Los Angeles show, they When the coronavirus pandemic hit, all of My Chemical
revealed via Twitter that this wasn’t a recent decision: Romance’s other upcoming dates were cancelled or
“In 2017, we got in a room together to see what would postponed, making the Los Angeles show a blip in the
happen. A couple more jam sessions and 39 days of timeline, a mysterious mirage of a show. Did it really
rehearsals later, we’re ready to show you what we’ve happen? It gave people hope just long enough to hold out
learned. See you soon.” but that quickly fizzled away. The accounts that had once
inspired so much hysteria have been relatively quiet,
The UK had to wait until January 2020 for My Chemical popping up only to announce new postponements or to
Romance to drop the UK dates. Through a cryptic, spooky promote the band’s members’ and friends’ other projects.
video of a cloaked skeleton walking through a forest Will the initial anticipation hold for shows that are
entitled “An Offering”, the band announced shows in delayed another year or more? Well, what’s another year
or two to fans who already waited seven?
ALAMY
MCR’s comeback was well-timed to coincide with the
apex of the wider mid-00s emo renaissance: the return
of bands of that era, the creation of new ones, and the
influence of emo in all areas of culture. But the hysteria
isn’t so much testament to the times we live in now as
to the band themselves: to what they created, what they
inspired in their fans, what they continue to inspire.

This level of excitement around My Chemical Romance,
isn’t new. Early in their career, the band became
figureheads of an emerging third-wave emo movement
and soon found themselves credited with “saving” young
fans’ lives. With the release of The Black Parade in 2006,

122 METALHAMMER.COM

CHRISTOPHER POLK/GETTY IMAGES

the band perfected their flair for concept albums and try to be honest about what’s happened to us in our lives.
sweeping theatrics, giving fans a uniform of black and We’re there for people in that respect.”
silver marching band jackets.
Which is why the reunion announcements inspired
However, it was not only their music but their candour such Beatlesmania-esque chaos: it wasn’t a desire to
about their real-life struggles, like addiction and regress, to retreat into nostalgia. The excitement and the
depression, that gathered a not-so-small army of lost, way it played out online, small hints spreading across the
adoring fans who were nothing short of evangelical internet like wildfire, reminded fans both old and new of
about what My Chemical Romance preached. Parents and that feeling: of being a part of something real, something
tabloids believed it was a suicide cult. Those in-the- that would support them when there was nothing else.
know knew it was more like a support group: a place to With how hard life has been lately for everyone, it seems
be open about what you felt and to be told that it was likely that My Chemical Romance will follow through on
worth carrying on. They soon felt the weight of that their promise to return, and even more likely that their
responsibility, with Gerard Way lamenting in 2006 that, shows will be bursting at the seams with fans old and
“we’re not psychotherapists”. However, he also said, “We new just seeking to be a part of something.

“THE HYSTERIA AROUND THE REUNION
IS TESTAMENT TO WHAT THEY INSPIRED

IN THEIR YOUNG FANS, WHAT THEY
CONTINUE TO INSPIRE”

METALHAMMER.COM 123

When we asked you to vote for the greatest MCR anthem, you
responded in your tens of thousands. Here are the results in full…

WORDS: MARIANNE ELOISE • PORTRAIT: MICK HUTSON/GETTY

124 METALHAMMER.COM

20The Light Behind Your Eyes
Before My Chemical Romance’s hiatus they
dropped Conventional Weapons, a compilation
album of 10 previously unreleased tracks. The Light
Behind Your Eyes is a haunting ballad, opening with
violins and gentle acoustic before giving way to big
guitars. It’s a rumination on mortality, life, and their
time as a band before fading away.

It’s Not a Fashion Statement,
It’s a Fucking Deathwish
This fun, fast, punk track from Three Cheers
For Sweet Revenge sees Way barely catching his breath
between promises of “I will remember you” . The first
track the band wrote after I Brought You My Bullets, You
Brought Me Your Love , it sounds more like that record’s
post-hardcore than other tracks on Three Cheers….

House of Wolves
House of Wolves plays an important role in
the mythology of The Black Parade as the
protagonist The Patient arrives in hell after a naughty
life. Whispers of “S-I-N” underpin jazzy, distorted guitars
as Gerard ruminates on innocence and sin. You can hear
how much fun they’re having with being bad, bad, bad.

The Sharpest Lives
On The Sharpest Lives , The Patient of The Black
Parade ’s narrative looks back on his chaotic
life. It’s the best of all eras My Chem, with the stadium
energy of The Black Parade, verses that are reminiscent
of I Brought You My Bullets… and vocal embellishments
that feel very Three Cheers…. Its chorus just begs to be
screamed along to.

You Know What They Do To Guys Like
Us in Prison
Here, My Chemical Romance are at their
campest and weirdest best, opening shyly with Gerard’s
vocals and an unassuming guitar before descending into
chaos. Full to of iconic emo lyrics and warped vocals, it
also features The Used’s Bert McCracken accompanying
Way on both screaming and speaking parts.

Demolition Lovers
At six minutes, Demolition Lovers is one of My
Chemical Romance’s longer songs, hinting
at the taste for theatrics they’d later fully lean into. It’s
a slow-building track with dead silence before a spooky,
stripped back interlude, crafting a real atmosphere and
the foundation of the story of Three Cheers….

METALHAMMER.COM 125

ROSS GILMORE/GETTY

14Disenchanted it sees The Patient finding out
While MCR’s louder tracks often get the most that he’s on his way out. The vocal
attention, they do ballads like nobody else. The gymnastics Gerard Way flips through
Black Parade ’s Disenchanted sees The Patient, heading to here are unforgettable.
his final end, musing on the pointlessness of life through a
big chorus and powerful guitar. It’s their most Queen effort Cancer
yet, fading out as someone plucks on a lone guitar. Cancer is a piano ballad
more rooted in reality
Cemetery Drive than the rest of The Black Parade,
“Cemetery Drive” is one of the strongest tracks with Way singing from The Patient’s
on Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, and an perspective about his cancer diagnosis, chapped lips and
underrated one. Dealing with the protagonist’s wife’s fear of leaving his loved ones behind. It’s mournful and
suicide, it’s heavy with both real and fictional emotion, visceral, emboldened by violins and Way’s heartfelt vocals.
opening with gentle drums and whispery vocals that set
the scene for something a lot bigger. 9 Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
While initially annoying to the ears of OG fans, Na
Thank You for the Venom Na Na introduces their most ambitious concept yet,
My Chemical Romance inspired a lot of hate from a desert-based dystopia in post-apocalyptic California.
the media for their clothes, their lyrics, their... Featuring an intro from Mindless Self Indulgence’s Steve
everything. On Three Cheers… single Thank You For the Montano as Dr. Death Defying, there’s no denying it’s
Venom , they bite back at the critics with a rallying cry that stadium ready (and brave). Plus, opening a crowd-friendly
they’ll never be brought down, and it’s a lot of fun for a track with cries of “give me drugs”? It’s an anthem.
clapback. Plus, that guitar solo.
8 I Don’t Love You
Dead! Sitting neatly in the narrative of The Black Parade , I
The first track proper on The Black Parade after Don’t Love You is one of MCR’s more simple tracks, but
the heart monitor-beep laden ballad The End. , therein lies its ower. It’s a real power ballad replete with
Dead! sets up all that The Patient’s journey to hell is going cries of “baby get out”, it’s a sob-inducing examination of
to be. Opening with fast guitars and Gerard Way’s screams, true heartbreak, both within the story and without.

126 METALHAMMER.COM

The Ghost of You screaming back at them, too. The
Opening with subtly effected guitars that feel simple bridge that builds to Way’s
submerged underwater, The Ghost of Youdropped as theatrical, determined screams
the fourth single from Three Cheers… with a Marc Webb- is a reminder that My Chem are
directed video that cost one million dollars and saw the unmatched.
band crawling around in the trenches. It’s an eerie, earnest
love song with tinges of grief. 3 I’m Not Okay (I Promise)
While My Chemical Romance
6 Teenagers already had a dedicated
The Gen Z vs. Millennial wars has a lot of grown fanbase off the back of I Brought
adults feeling pretty scared of the youth. Teenagers, You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your
more relatable than ever, is a fun pop punk bop with a Love, I’m Not Okay (I Promise) was
catchy hook of “teenagers scare the living shit out of me”. The the track that introduced their
accompanying video sees the band playing at an anti-pep eyelinered-faces to the world at
rally, leading bored teens into a rousing chorus. According large. An anthem for the misfits
to Gerard Way, the song carries a darker message about and the downtrodden, it followed
school shootings: “It’s about a big problem in America in the tradition of all the bands before who had assigned
where kids are killing kids. The only thing I learned in high themselves as role models for the weirdos. The video,
school is that people are very violent and territorial.” featuring the band in oversized school uniforms dealing
with all the shit that being at school comes with, is kinetic
5Mama and unforgettable, dedicated to nerds everywhere.
A song about The Patient and his mother’s
conflicted relationship, “Mama” is one of My 2 Helena
Chemical Romance’s weirdest songs, playing with Jewish While many of the songs on Three Cheers For Sweet
vibes and old-fashioned radio crackles. It works, especially Revengefollow the mythology of the demolition
as showtunes play into so much of My Chemical Romance’s lovers, there are a couple of outliers. One isHelena,
discography. It’s is embellished with stage and screen icon a thoughtful tribute Gerard and Mikey Way’s late
Liza Minnelli’s iconic sobs, shouts and cries of “And if you grandmother. Gerard has called the song an angry letter to
would call me a sweetheart/I’d maybe then sing you a song...” himself about how he handled his grandmother’s life and
“We wanted somebody kind of motherly, but who was death: “It’s about why I wasn’t around for this woman who
also a survivor, had been through a lot, but was rooted in was so special to me, why I wasn’t there for the last year of
theatre” said Way. Not only did Minnelli fit the bill, she did her life,” he said. He’s also spoken frequently on the self-
it for free, and the pair have been friends ever since. hate that’s woven through “Helena”, but in practice, it’s
buried under the genuine grief. The wobbly, eerie opening
4 Famous Last Words vocals and whispers set a mournful tone before Way, as
While My Chemical always, fully goes for it. A distorted bridge opens with “can
Romance got a lot of flack you hear me/are you near me” and leads into a cry of “when
from worried parents for lyrics both our cars collide”, and you can feel that regret.
about misery, many were wilfully
ignoring the optimistic under The Marc Webb-directed video is as recognisable as
(and over) tones of many of their the track itself. It moves away from their real life grief,
songs. The second single from focusing instead on a young woman who died tragically.
The Black Parade and its closing The band move amongst the mourners, leading them into
track, Famous Last Words isn’t the a choreographed dance before the made up eyes of Helena
death rattle you’d expect from an snap open in her coffin; she dances with her black ballet
album about cancer. Instead, it’s a flats through the pews before laying back down to die.
powerful promise to carry on. The band carry her coffin through the rain and Way stares
“I am not afraid to keep on living/I defiantly at the camera as attendees dance in the rain with
am not afraid to walk this world black and red umbrellas. Helena is a beautiful, mournful
alone,” Way sings, and it’s a refrain track that stands the test of time and one of My Chemical
designed for the fans to keep Romance’s most unique, blurring reality with fiction and
emo with goth in a way few have done since.

METALHAMMER.COM 127

1

T hree Cheers For Sweet Revenge would have been a Any fans who weren’t already buying what My Chemical
difficult album for anyone to follow, and for two years, Romance were selling – the idea of community and being saved
fans waited anxiously to find out what My Chemical among the other weirdos and losers – were now fully along for
Romance would do next. They would be surprised. the ride. The fears that some would later have that My Chemical
On September 2, 2006, the band dropped Welcome Romance inspired cultish obsession weren’t that far off, of
course, but it wasn’t a dark or negative place to be at all. As
to the Black Parade on Myspace, an epic introduction to a new
Welcome To The Black Parade fades out,
narrative landscape. Ten days later, it the marching drum snare still ticking,
My Chemical Romance have shown
was released as a single, reaching No.9 their new faces to the world. Everyone
wanted to hear the story of The Patient.
on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and later
The defiance woven through
becoming the band’s first No.1 in the UK. Welcome To The Black Parade was hard
won. Members of the band, already
It represented a lot of firsts for the struggling with depression, addiction
and self-esteem, were finding their
band, but it was the video, released in newfound fame and positions of
influence difficult to handle. Speaking
late September, that showed the world around the release of the record in
October 2006, Way revealed that he had
what The Black Parade would be about. a crisis of faith during recording sessions in Los Angeles. “I was
staring at that cityscape wondering what the hell I was doing
It introduced fans to a pale, black- with my life,” he said. “I was examining every awful thing
about myself. I was cutting myself open and taking all the
eyed man known only as The Patient parts out and examining them.” He added that the group were
fighting with each other: “It wasn’t the happiest time of our
reclining in a hospital bed. In the video, lives. I was very edgy, almost like I wasn’t really alive.”
That difficulty and pain, however, particularly amongst
he is taken to death by a marching themselves, became the defiance that fills the record, nowhere
more so than on its first single. Way said, “We became so
band known as a “Black Parade”. In an protective of each other when we were making this record that
everything became different. We became a different band. We
interview, Way said, “I’d like to think had always loved each other – we’re like brothers – but this was
something different.”
that when you die death comes for you however you want, and For most longtime fans, Welcome To The Black Parade was their
first introduction to this new, sprawling world that the band
I feel that it’s your strongest memory – either from childhood or were taking them into. “It personifies the whole record,” said
Way. “It’s basically the one song that sounds up the song for
adulthood.” the record and all the risks we took jammed into one mini-epic.
And it still retains everything that made us special,” Ray Toro,
The Patient’s most vivid memory, we come to understand, too, called it their Bohemian Rhapsody, and the Queen influence
is clear to anyone.
was being taken to see a marching band with his father. In My Chemical Romance are so good at so many things:
storytelling, theatre, darkness, light and community. All of that
a desolate cityscape, the band play on floats in the silver is here on Welcome To The Black Parade , in their most ambitious,
epic effort to that point. It showcases everything that fans of all
and black jackets that fans would later don in homage. It’s a ages and eras love about the band, from their vulnerability to
their commitment to drama. Simply put, it’s pure My Chemical
departure from the world of Three Cheers…: Way’s hair is close- Romance distilled into just five minutes.

cropped and bleached, his jet black locks a thing of the past.

On Welcome To The Black Parade, MCR revealed the glam rock

and musical theatre influences that the rest of the album would

play with. Opening with a G note that’s firmly embedded in

the ears and hearts of emos everywhere, the track has hints of

Queen and Bowie but is decidedly My Chem. Way sings from the

perspective of The Patient: “When I was a young boy, my father/

took me into the city to see a marching band/He said, ‘Son, when

you grow up would you be/The saviour of the broken, the beaten

and the damned?’” It rings of the cultish evangelism that My

Chemical Romance inspired in their adoring fans – many did

see MCR as their saviours, leading them away from darkness.

At just five minutes, Welcome To The Black Parade somehow

traverses genres and moods, feeling much bigger than it is. It’s

cleaner than anything on the prior two albums: slicker and

more deliberate, with less of the weird murderous energy either

I Brought You My Bullets… or Three Cheers… . It feels, above all,

like a defiant refusal to give in or die: “I’m unashamed, I’m

gonna show my scars/Give a cheer for all the broken/Listen here,

because it’s who we are/I’m just a man, I’m not a hero/Just a boy,

who had to sing this song,” sings Way.

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THEO WARGO/GETTY

METALHAMMER.COM 129

“I AM NOT AFRAID TO KEEP ON LIVING. I AM NOT
AFRAID TO WALK THIS WORLD ALONE” MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

NAKI/GETTY



THE C OMEBACK K IDS:

INSIDE
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GERARD WAY: UP THE STORY BEHIND THE 20 GREATEST MCR
CLOSE AND PERSONAL! EVERY ALBUM SONGS VOTED BY YOU!

ROCK STAR, COMIC BOOK ARTIST, FROM I BROUGHT YOU MY BULLETS THE ANTHEMS THAT
ICON – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF TO DANGER DAYS – CHANGED THE WORLD
MCR’S FRONTMAN – THE ULTIMATE PLAYLIST!
EVERY MCR RECORD RE-REVIEWED!

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