It's My Chemical Romance's 4th studio album, and they have most certainly polished their sound, now this album has a few short spoken interludes which i will not count in my final scoring.
The way i score is simple, i score each song out of 10 and give a percentage by dividing the score i gave with the total score (in this case 120) and then multiplying by 100.
1. Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) 9/10: Opening with the end of a spoken intro by Dr Deathdefy the song starts hard, Gerards vocals clearly stronger than ever, the music is VERY catchy, even got my dad whistling the tune, the song's bridge has a very interesting line which caught me immediatly "Everybody wants to change the world, everybody wants to change the world, but no one, no one, wants to TRY"
2. Bulletproof Heart, 10/10: One of my three favorites from the album, starting with a mid tempo ballad before slamming into the main verse, the vocals are delivered brilliantly, the whole song despite being about two lovers being chased is quite... uplifting, and is the first song of MCR's that gets me dancing.
3. SING, 10/10: The most MJ like song i have ever heard from them, the lyrics are like magic and the first chorus is built up from an intense climax from the verses, Gerard sings "Sing it for the boys, sing it for the girls
Every time that you lose it sing it for the world
Sing it from the heart
Sing it till you're nuts
Sing it out for the ones that'll hate your guts
Sing it for the deaf
Sing it for the blind
Sing about everyone that you left behind
Sing it for the world, sing it for the world
".
4. Planetary (GO!), 9/10: A great mesh of electro-pop with hard MCR drums and Gerards strong projections, the music is as catchy as the words themselves, this song really proves that an emo rock band can change, this song, along with this whole album is their best stuff, and if your not an MCR person, i suggest you start with this song.
5. The Only Hope For Me Is You, 6/10: It starts off great, with the cool sounds, but then the song just completely dies at the chorus, the verses are good, but the chorus's are just... meh, don't have substance as much as the rest of the album. The verses are the gold in this song along with the music itself.
6. Party Poison, 8/10: A catchy enough song with brilliantly executed verses with VERY unique vocals from Gerard, the chorus is simple and effective, another great song from the album, however... i can't understand why, but i just wanna bring the raw tracks of this song into a studio and finish it off, i can hear things in the song that i would love to change.
7. Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back, 10/10: My third top pick for this album, and along with SING and Bulletproof Heart it is the best of the album, the vocals are amazing! I get caught up with all the sounds, the music doesn't overpower the voices, and it has plenty of backing. The strong vocals that sustain with Gerards "Wooahs" make the song, along with that random "Motherf*cker" remark, it just makes the song.
8. S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W, 7/10: A slow ballad with simple beats, the chorus is very strong, as well as the build up to the chorus, but the verses are soft and quite hard to understand, i give extra points for the vocal delivery and the lyric "Move your body when the sunlight dies
Everybody hide your body from the scarecrow
Everybody hide".
9. Summertime, 5/10: Once again making very good use of the mixing of pop and rock genres, the song starts with an ordinary verse and follows by... wait, was that a chorus? i couldn't even recognise it, the second verse is better, but all in all a very average song and doesn't do very much for me.
10. DESTROYA, 2/10: The song starts with some world drumming, and then goes into some random drumming, the song then proceeds to a full blown scream match, followed by off key noises, this song blows up the entire album, it just doesn't fit, i kinda feel like this when i hear it :bugeyed
11. The Kids From Yesterday, 8/10: Starts with a very pop like "oohs" from Ray, the verses are great backed by a simple beat that has a nice shallow thudding sound. The best part about the song is the chorus and the lyrics "Cause you wanna 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".
12. Vampire Money, 7/10: A fun way to end the album, fast paced from the get go, the lyrics aren't... erm, touching, but the song is catchy, it's reminiscent of "I'm Not Okay" from their 2nd studio album "3 Cheers For Sweet Revenge". So i guess the song would have gotten a 10 if it was released in 2004 with the album it belongs with...
Overall the album is their best stuff, starting hard but sort of loses puff towards the end.
FINAL SCORE:
75%
B
91/120
Larry's Picks:
3. Bulletproof Heart
2. SING
1. Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back