On MCR's "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" re-release

On June 6th, My Chemical Romance re-released their second studio album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. The re-release is in line with the band’s current revival era, which includes the release of a new single (2022’s “The Foundations of Decay”) as well as an upcoming North American tour.

The 2025 re-release mostly includes remasters of the entire 2004 original (including the album’s most well-known songs, “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” and “Helena”), and it also includes rare live recordings from MCR’s performances for BBC Radio in 2005.

That context all being said, I love it.

For one, the remix balances out the cymbals, which were too overpowering in the original album and overshadowed a lot of details. You can hear some of the background vocals so much better, particularly in “The Ghost of You” and in “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).” Also, in the original Three Cheers, the bass was really hard to hear; you could hear the notes just fine, but the actual tone of the bass guitar was generally lost.

As for the included BBC Radio live recordings, they’re so freaking good. Some of my favorite MCR stuff are their live recordings and demos. Their studio albums are great, obviously (and I’ll always love them… I’m writing a blog post about MCR for Pete’s sake. I am a nerd), but my favorite recordings from them are their live sessions and demos – I think I just prefer a rawer sound for them generally.

ALSO: This is more superficial… but I really like the album cover …. It’s so simple with just the rosary, but it invokes a lot of the same thematic vibes as the original album cover does (with the iconic Demolition Lovers!!)

The only thing lacking from this is a demo or two. My favorite songs are “Emily” and “All the Angels,” both of which are demos/previously unreleased rough cuts off of My Chem’s 2016 10th anniversary re-release of The Black Parade. I mean, it is so possible that there simply weren’t any unreleased new songs for Three Cheers (or that they got lost to time, frankly), but I was expecting something new from my favorite My Chem album. That part, though, I’ll forgive them for 😇.