Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, is the second album from legendary pop-punk band, My Chemical Romance. Originating from Newark, New Jersey, the band is composed of lead singer Gerard Way, guitarist Raymond Toro, bassist Mikey Way, and guitarist Frank Iero. Matt Pelissier played the drums on the record. They are a very influential band when it comes to the genre of pop-punk, and this album and their magnum opus, The Black Parade, are both iconic records. The story of this album is fascinating as it’s about a man who makes a deal with the devil to be reunited with his loved one. This album, however, was released on June 8th, 2004, making it almost 20 years old. So how does it hold up?

   We open up the album with the track, “Helena (So Long & Goodnight),” which is an emotional tribute to Gerard and Mikey Way’s grandmother who passed away. Her name was Elena, but she was known as Helen, by those who were close to her, so they combined the two for the sake of this track. “Whats the worst that I could say? Things are better if I stay, so long and goodnight,” is an incredibly raw line, which highlights how tough it is to accept that someone you love is gone. The heavy guitar power chords and somber lyrics create an amazing first cut off the LP. One of my favorites.

   Following that is the track, “Give ‘Em Hell, Kid,” which has a heavy punk rock sound, and is the first track that begins the main story of this album. It’s told from the perspective of the narrator’s love interest. The narrator has made a deal with the devil, and she’s unaware of it. He’s out committing crimes, and she misses him, thinking he’s dead, but also tells him to “go on and live your life,” which means that she doesn’t want to be a weight on his shoulders. “To the End,” is a very vivid and visual track off of the record, with lines like, “He calls the mansion not a house, but a tomb.” Based off the story of the album, it’s speculated by many that the protagonist of this story crashed a wedding party and killed the guests in this track. The songwriting on this album is phenomenal.

    “You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison,” is another favorite of mine off the record, which is told from the point of view of a felon who got sent to prison even though he arrogantly never thought that he would be arrested. Even when this dude is in the “middle of a gunfight,” and ordered to “come with your arms raised high,” he believes that they’re never gonna get him, even though the jig is clearly up. I love how angry and harsh Gerard Way’s vocals are on this track. The thrashing guitar and drums create another pop-punk banger on the album.

   After that, is “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” which tells the story of a girl who’s dealing with relationship problems with her boyfriend, and wants the help of the narrator, who she’s friends with. “Well if you wanted honesty, that’s all you had to say,” comes from the girl, and the pre-chorus shifts to the narrator talking. I like the back and forth between them as it creates an interesting dynamic in the song. “For all the dirty looks, the photographs your boyfriend took. Remember when you broke your foot from jumping off the second floor?” I like how the narrator  is telling her that being popular isn’t worth the suffering that she’s clearly going through, and it paints a very realistic and relatable message forward. I also like the guitar solo before the second pre-chorus. Another favorite.

   “The Ghost of You,” is another emotional track that touches on the grief and heartbreak one feels when they lose a loved one. I love how it ties in to the rest of the album, as it shows the more vulnerable side of the protagonist, as you don’t see him as a cold-blooded killer, but rather as a flawed individual who’s willing to kill in order to have his loved one back with him. The chorus is absolutely heartbreaking too, “At the end of the world, or the last thing I see. You are never coming home, never coming home.” I like the calm guitar and drum rhythms in the verses, contrasted with the heavy punk rhythms in the chorus. It almost feels like it’s combining the emotions of grief and anger instrumentally.

    “The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You,” is a track referencing the “Jetset lifestyle,” which is a term used to describe one who’s constantly traveling and abusing drugs and/or alcohol. “I’m lost in the prescription, she’s got something else in mind,” is one of a handful of lines that ties into that theme. It’s a solid track, and it actually has a real life connection to Gerard Way’s abusing of alcohol and cocaine as a coping mechanism for the stress of the band’s tour, in which he nearly died at one point. There’s more detail on Genius.com, but alcoholism and drug addiction are both very real things, and a lot of the metaphors and lyrics paint a picture of someone struggling to get clean. It sounds very real, because it is based on a true experience.

    After a brief interlude, we continue the record with the track, “Thank You for the Venom,”  which is incredibly catchy with hard hitting guitar riffs, and crashing drums. It talks about how the band feels about their newfound fame, as they never desired to be the poster boys of 2000s punk music, but alas it happened. Howard Benson, the main producer of this album, did a phenomenal job mixing the album. “Hang ‘Em High,” has a cool whistly intro, with a faster tempo than the last few tracks on the record, and sounds a bit like something out of a western film. The title actually is referring to the movie with Clint Eastwood, of the same name. I like the first pre-chorus’ lyrics, “Shotgun sinners, wild-eyed jokers, got you in my sights.” This puts us in the shoes of the protagonist who has to kill 1,000 men in order to be reunited with his wife again. “It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s A Deathwish,” has one of my favorite guitar riffs on the album, and features the protagonist  having an one-sided conversation with his beloved. I also like the theme of redemption of this track, “I will avenge my ghost with every breath I take,” representing who he used to be before he made the deal with the devil. He desperately wants to go back to being the happy person he once was. Another favorite off the album. We approach the second to last track, “Cemetery Drive,” which is incredibly dark. It tells the tale of the protagonist’s wife who killed herself, you can hear the pain in Way’s voice as he tells our main character’s story, which makes it sound even more genuine. The main character feels as if he’s likely to end up dying before he ever sees his loved one. I like how it tells the backstory and illustrates the pain and motivations of our anti-hero. We finish off the album with, “I Never Told You What I Do For A Living,” which is our protagonist trying to reassure himself that he’ll be reunited with his love, despite the circumstances making the reality of the situation less and less likely. He’s also realized that he’s become corrupted in the purpose of trying to bring his lover back from the dead, and that she probably won’t love him for the person he’s become. I became truly invested in this story the more I listened to this album.

   Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is an iconic album, while The Black Parade generally is talked about more, I feel like Three Cheers is a massively under appreciated album. Its storyline, which I wasn’t even aware of the first time I heard this album, is emotionally engaging, and you’re genuinely rooting for the protagonist of this record. Learning about the meaning behind this album, and how personally it relates to Gerard Way’s life, whether it be about his grandma passing or his battle with alcoholism or drug addiction. The personal, and raw emotion of this album is something that I have immense amounts of respect for. It’s not a perfect album, but it is one that any serious punk rock fan should listen to. I can’t recommend this album enough.

Overall Score: 9/10

Favorite Tracks: “Helena (So Long and Goodnight),” “You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us in Prison,” “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” “The Ghost of You,” “It’s Not A Fashion Statement It’s A Deathwish.”

Least Favorite Tracks: “interlude,” (very hard to pick a least favorite)

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCCyoocDxBA

Genres: Pop Punk/Emo