| Product: |
I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love - My Chemical Romance |
| Date: |
10/01/08 (74 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Less pop oriented, varied songs, interesting music and lyrics. good production.
Disadvantages: Some will find it a bit too emo. Only a few brilliant songs
My Chemical Romance is one of those bands that has a first album that many fans won't have even heard of, as it was a smaller release on (an independent label) than their subsequent their breakout album 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge'. So is this release worth looking at or are fans best to keep to 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge' and 'The Black Parade'? The answer will depend on how much 'emo' content is acceptable. By 'The Black Parade' My Chemical Romance have toned down their emo roots considerably that were more present in this album. However again context is important.
Similar to the Black Parade, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is a concept album to a certain extent, starting the stories of vampires that continued on in 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge', but with a much darker edge than later albums - harder songs more screamo content. Onto the songs:
Romance:
An interesting start, the popular classical guitar piece 'romance' with some static added in the background. A slight surprise for a MCR record. It fits in fine though.
Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us:
A brutally bitter start to the album, concerning someone he doesn't want to see any more. The dynamics of this song are very interesting, ranging from a soft and subdued (musically wise) "and you can cry all you want to
i don't...
Then suddenly screaming "care how much you'll invest yourself in me ". A great emo song, that doesn't try to be catchy.
Vampires Will Never Hurt You:
This song starts off slow, and shows of the decent production values nicely, with a buildup of just drums, then clean guitars added leading into subdued verse, with heavy chorus. Some of the heavy guitar riffs are excellent, again with plenty of dynamics enhanced by palm muting. The interaction of the guitars also feature the very underused concept of 'chopping' between guitars, where one guitar plays something and the second guitar finishes or continues it off. Drowning lessons uses this more, but this one has a few effective uses. Lots of effective whispering throughout and at the end to. Despite being almost 5 and a half minutes, it doesn't feel long.
Drowning Lessons:
One of the best My Chemical Romance songs ever, arguably. A great song to sing along with out being annoying. Again this song has the concept of 'chopping' guitar riffs especially in the prechorus where a guitar riff is played with one guitar and the second guitar plays a semi lead riff that goes with it, sounds especially effective with headphones or well separated speakers. Some brilliant lines in this song like "without a sound..
And I wish you away" or "Lets say goodbye, the hundreth time
And then tomorrow we'll do it again..". A brilliant piece of emo angst both musically and lyrically, a true definition of an underrated song.
Our Lady Of Sorrows:
One of the more brutal songs of this song. Gerard is tiptoes seamlessly between all out screaming and semi singing on this one, its fast pacec all the way. A short 2 minute song still manages a very cool bridge with a nice buildup of harmonized lead guitars over vocals
Headfirst For Halos:
This song starts with a lead guitar intro before launching into the main riff. An interesting mix of upbeat feel (guitars in particular) with very emo lyrics. The end highlights this especially with 'think happy thoughts' chanted over the main (and very catchy) guitar riff.
Skylines and Turnstiles:
Another good emo-rock song with some meaningful lyrics (though often hard to work out just by listening due to vocal style) to do with how to how ones perspective on things can change after a big event.
Early Sunsets Over Monroeville:
A completely acoustic focussed song with clean guitars and soft vocals throughout. Its almost a shame that MCR haven't really done anything since unless you count say 'Cancer' which is more of a ballad. The vocals are doubled throughout with one panned more to the left, the other to the right to good effect until the bridge. Some more great emo styled lyrics to such as
"But does anyone notice?
But does anyone care?
or
"Before I pull this trigger
Your eyes vacant and stained
And in saying you loved me
Made things harder at best"
The final line is perhaps a little overdone, but then again its intentionally a very emo album.
This Is the Best Day Ever:
A song about being in hospital (sort of), another quick song that finishes suddenly in 'oh, where did it go' way.
Cubicles:
An anthem for the office workers with creative anecdotes such as
"But I'm only two cubes down
I'll photocopy all the things that we could be"
or
"So I'll spend my time with strangers
A condition that is terminal "
A song that works on many levels that (unlike some of the other songs here) many people could relate to. On the other hand it can be interpreted in some ways about being an individual with the line "Sometimes I think I'll die alone, live and breathe and die alone ", but could also be interpreted as the often depressingly impersonal nature of work.
Demolition Lovers:
An excellent conclusion to the album, the dynamics of this song are great, from the quiet acoustic intro with more 'intimate' vocals to heavy choruses and such. Lots of variety in this 6 minute long song, it doesn't feel long as 'Vampires Will Never Hurt You' doesn't.
Overall this an interesting but very bleak album full of varied songs. Some more traditional emo-rock anthem MCR songs mixed with songs with a completely different feel (eg Demolition Lovers). Again its not for everyone though, sometimes the emoness is a bit overdone, even though its part of the concept of the album. For those that are mainly into the Black Parade will perhaps not enjoy this as much. Any fan should listen to some of the songs though, especially Drowning Lessons.
Sound quality and production wise this exceeds anything My Chemical Romance have done since, though with room for improvement. The guitars sound powerful and dynamic, with some variety in the mix beyond 'guitar 1 in left speaker, guitar 2 in right speaker' as a lot of records are (though some of this record is which is fine, but not always. The bass guitar is a bit low in the mix perhaps, its a little hard to pick out, but thats nothing new. The drums are generally good. Theres a good amount of presence in the cymbals though perhaps too much 'hit' in the toms and not enough tone. Snare could do with a bit more 'body' to, but again just minor nitpicking. Lots of good experimentation as previously mentioned with whispering, chopping guitar riffs and other subtle effects. Its really a great dynamic sound overall, far better than the awful over compression of subsequent albums. Take say 'Demolition Lovers' - the guitars a dynamic and powerful, the drums stand out and sound 'big', theres plenty of high end presence without being too thin. It also has great dynamics between quieter acoustic bits and full out choruses. Now compare try to level match as this album is 'quieter' though) to 'Im Not Okay' for example of there second record. 'I'm Not Okay' just sounds weak and it shouldn't considering the guitar riffs. The drums are a compressed mess barely coming out at all, the guitars lack dynamics, the mix has no real bass whatsoever and no real presence either - its just too midrange heavy. Its all the same volume, rather boring really from an audio point of view. Its got all the hallmarks of a mixed design just to go loud at the expense of sound. If anyone is wondering how to 'level match' the best tools are Itunes 'sound check' or replaygain in foobar2000/winamp. Again this is all a mastering issue - this album was mastered to keep the dynamics of the album somewhat intact, while subsequent albums were mastered just to be louder than anything else - at the expense of sound quality. The later albums are best to listen to in the car where the complete lack of dynamics (ie all the same volume throughout) suits the noisy conditions of the road.
Summary: While some will find it a bit 'emo' and brutal, otherwises its a great album showing a heavier MCR.
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