so an album might have come out, and this turned into a goddamn epic
There is just something about having Danger Days right next to Kilroy Was Here in my Zune player that is so very special to me. Probably because the former really, inexplicably, reminds me of the later on a conceptual front. I mean, I could go on for a while about my unnatural love for concept albums as a whole and how Styx's Paradise Theatre and The Grand Illusion were two of my favourite albums during my awkward teenage years (and I was actually looking for them on iTunes a few days ago and am pretty sure they must be out of print which makes me unbearably sad. The oldest Styx album I could find on there was Kilroy, so I bought it) And how although Kilroy never really grabbed me musically the way the other two did, I had such an insane love for the concept that it didn't really matter.
Thinking about it, I can say the exact same thing about Danger Days. It doesn't grab me quite as hard musically (well, not on the first listen... some of them might grow on me "Na Na Na" already has like a fucking fungus XD) But oh GOD I love this concept so much it's not even funny. Musically, actually, this album is really really weird. Because every song I heard made me think "this sounds like something else I've heard... not My Chemical Romance" (not that this is a bad thing, just a very, very, strange thing to sit down and listen to) The main verses in "Sing" sound like a J. Englishman song how's that for obscure The very, very first few bars of "The Only Hope For Me Is You" sounds like the opening to either "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" or "My Wildest Dreams" by the Moody Blues. "Destroya" and "Planetary (GO!)" both remind me of something and I cannot put my finger on what and it's driving me batshit (although the opening to "Planetary (GO!)" totally made me think of Streets of Rage XD) And "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W" sounds like something from the mid-90s, once again I can't quite put my finger on a band it sounds like... it just sounds like something I've heard before. and then I remembered the "Sing" video and what the Scarecrows actually are in this mess and it lyrically started making me flail around and freak out a lot in absolute delight
There's all this nifty extra stuff I got with the download, except it seems like it only actually runs in iTunes (ick) but I'm digging through the folders and going through all the pictures anyway. The concept art for the costumes and things makes me grin really hard except for the notes on the Draculoids which make me frown a bit and wonder if I should rewrite some things in my stupid fic, but I am lazy so no XD. And then there is this which I have already commented on how inappropriately attractive I found that whole scene and am tempted to put it into my wallpaper rotation, except for the fact that it would be rather out of place amongst all the 5Ds fanart that is my current rotation. XD
It seems more cohesive conceptually than The Black Parade was. But it's still suffering from the same problem that you need outside source material before it really, really, comes off as a whole. Which I still think defeats the point of a concept album. Although this one can hold the whole story together with one or two music videos. Whereas with The Black Parade I never really got that. (have I mentioned before that The Black Parade seriously underwhelmed me as a concept album... like, so much... then again, I never watched all the music videos either. plus it was not PostApoc and therefore could not hit those buttons XD) See, the thing is, I never pay attention to things like interviews or "making of" nonsense or any of that. With anything. It never really interests me. I just want the story. So if you tell me something is a concept album then by god it had better be able to stand on its own as a concept album without me needing a whole lot of other stuff to go with it to view it as such.
And I wasn't actually intending to ramble this much. God, it would have been even worse if I had gotten into the history of my unnatural love for concept albums and as such, "why this hits so many of my happy buttons."
"Vampire Money" does not belong on this album though. God. It's even worse than "Whatshername" tacked on to the end of American Idiot. "Whatshername" at least kind of fits, just feels tacked on because it's in there after the logical ending place. "Vampire Money" is not only after the logical ending place, it just Does Not Belong. It's weird and awkward and tacked on. That said, the opening riff off of "Ballroom Blitz" did make me laugh. But still!
Okay, no seriously, I'm going to shut up now. The only reason I started this post was to giggle over Danger Days and Kilroy being right next to each other in my Zune, I swear. XD