Yes, that's right. It's time for my very first album review! You got to choose whick album I had to review, and Danger Days got the most votes. So here's my review! I'm going to talk about the album, the songs and the meaning of the album. Hope you guys like it...
Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys from My Chemical Romance
Album
Let's start with showing you what the CD looks like.
(Sorry for the bad quality, I made these pictures with my mobile phone and the quality really sucks)
The first two pictures are the front and the back of the album. Personally, I really love them because they immediately show you where the story takes place. Besides that, the pictures are really beautiful. The third (sorry, I know it's upside down, my mobile phone hates me) and the fourth, the fifth and the sixth pictures are the inside of the album. On the third pic you can see how the album looks opened: You see the CD and a small card with the BL/ind logo. The fourth pic shows the back of the card. The fifth pic shows the card when opened: it says 'Produced by Rob Cavallo and My Chemical Romance', 'Engineerd by Doug McKean' and stuff like that. The last pic is a coupon whick gives you 10% off My Chem gear at their site.
I think the album is really cool. I like the fact that the outside screams 'Killjoy!' and the inside is 'BL/ind'. It really fits well with the story.
Meaning
The album's concept is based around the lives of the "Fabulous Killjoys", in the setting of a post-apocalyptic California in the year 2019. The band's alter-egos are the four Killjoys: "Party Poison" (Gerard Way), "Jet Star" (Ray Toro), "Fun Ghoul" (Frank Iero), and "Kobra Kid" (Mikey Way), shown in the videos for "Na Na Na" and "Sing". The Killjoys are a group of outlaws who are fighting against the evil corporation Better Living Industries (BL/ind.) and it's various "Draculoids" and exterminators, such as Korse (Grant Morrison).The character aliases were originally the names of their "designer" guns. Their guide is the pirate radio DJ named Dr. Death Defying who is voiced by Steve Montano (also known by the stage name "Steve, Righ?" when performing with Mindless Self Indulgence).
The two music videos show a girl simply known as 'Little Girl' (played by young upcoming actress and singer/songwriter Grace Jeanette Clarke) and Dr. Death Defying's sidekick 'Show Pony' (played by a performer known as Ricky Rebel). '"Na Na Na" shows the Killjoys' daily lives until Korse defeats them and captures the girl, and "Sing" shows Killjoy's rescue mission to get her back; however, this mission sees the gang wiped out in the process, though the girl is taken in by Dr. Death Defying and their other allies.
A website for Better Living Industries was launched in November 2010, featuring a mission statement, a report from the Zones and a merchandise store.
Gerard Way has said the inspiration for the song was a Trans-Am car he'd seen years ago and the visual idea of it driving fast through a desert: this car is the one used in the music videos. Way has also stated "there is no story" in the album itself, with Dr. Death Defying's interludes "painting a picture of this world" and he feels the songs are quite "direct".
The final track, "Vampire Money", was a reaction to the band being asked to do a song for the film New Moon, part of the Twilight franchise. Gerard Way said that the reason the song was on the album was because "there’s a lot of people chasing that fucking money. ‘Twilight?’ A lot of people around us were like, ‘please, for the love of God, do this fucking movie.’ But we’d moved on."
I really like the fact that the album actuaaly has a story, and that it isn't just 'a bunch of songs'. Also, the story itself is well-constructed but does leave room for your own imagination. Many fans made themselves a Killjoy: they have a name (Gasoline Diamond is my Killjoy name according to the Killjoy Name Generator) a costume and a story about their life in the California desert. There are lots of (fanfic)story's about Danger Days out there, I have one myself. I think it's special how an album can do this to you, I mean, I think every MCR-fan hopes that IF the world is going to end/change dramaticly in 2012, there´s going to be a new world with Killjoys like in the album.
Songs
Track listing:
1. Look Alive, Sunshine
2. Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
3. Bulletproof Heart
4. SING
5. Planetary (GO!)
6. The Only Hope For Me Is You
7. The Jet Star And The Cobra Kid/Traffic Report
8. Party Poison
9. Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back
10. S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W
11. Summertime
12. Destroya
13. The Kids From Yesterday
14. Goodnite, Dr. Death
15. Vampire Money
What can I say? I mean, I love all songs, each one of them. The order of the songs really tells the story of the Killjoys, and tracks like 'Look Alive, Sunshine' really make you feel like you're listening to the radio station from Dr. Death Defying. Everyone I know likes Na Na Na, even people that normally hate MCR. I´ve been to two My Chem concerts, and when I went to the first one, the album wasn´t out yet, everyone only knew Na Na Na and some knew SING, which was released only days before. But we loved the songs from the new album we didn´t even knew yet from the very first note they played. And that says a lot. MCR is -for some reason- known as a ´depressive emo-band´ and this album proves that´s not true.
In short: I think Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys is an awesome album. My Chemical Romance tried something new, and it worked out fantastic! I hope that all the albums after this one will be as happy and positive as Danger Days. If I had to rate this album on a scale of 1 being awful and 10 being alsolutely divine, I would give Danger Days a well-deserved 10.
♣ Gasoline Diamond ♣
So, was this review good or bad? Should I review more albums? Please let me know by making a comment below!
I totally agree with you ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks (:
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