Gerard way hesitant alien album full#

Way brings back the energy with “Jaurez,” a sleazy, rabid, metal ripper that builds into something fantastically frantic. That’s not to say it’s not good it just seems to mark a bit of a drop-off in the midsection of the album. Way keeps swinging with the third track, “No Shows,” but any sense of momentum comes to a screeching halt with “Brother,” Way’s jangly, nostalgic piano ballad about missing the sounds of the past while stuck in a city that refuses to stop moving forward. “And don’t ask a lot, you won’t lose a lot,” Way sings. Here the theme of the album starts taking shape: Again, it’s the desperation in Way’s vocals that makes it hard not to get dragged in by the ear. Heck, he has named his tour band the Hormones, and he is quick to remind us of this on the second track. Turning 37 clearly hasn’t led Way to tone down the angst. The song’s composition is reminiscent of the mellow tone of the Suedes or the Smashing Pumpkins, yet grounded in Way’s voice, the song is caustic and biting.

Gerard way hesitant alien album full#

Fuzz pedals on full blast thrash and build into a cacophony as Way wails out a call to arms: “Everybody’s getting on tonight/ Everybody’s getting on/ And so am I.” Something about the new, less vocal-centric production entices the listener to seek him out in the frenzy.Īlbum opener “Bureau” serves as a perfect mission statement for the album. However, this is not to say that Way gets lost in the shuffle. Gone are the My Chemical Romance days of triple-tracked vocals that helped Way’s voice punch its way through the guitar work of Frank Iero and Ray Toro. “Just keep it together,” Way begs, but somehow his desperation is different, new and refreshing.

Way drops brash, free-form shoegaze-style lyrics about the past and present and the ability of both to take their toll on the heart and head. Crunchy, effected guitars take the listener on a ride that would seem more at home on a Queens of the Stone Age or Kyuss album. Take “Get the Gang Together” for instance. Hearing it now in the context of Britpop-inspired rock songs, lush with a vast array of guitars and synthesizers, is enough to question whether the world might have jumped the gun by branding him the “savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned” – a pale-faced king of the emo scene. There has always been something undeniably jubilant in Way’s voice despite the typically macabre and emo nature of My Chemical Romance’s lyrics. “Hesitant Alien” makes a strong case that Way may very well be the man for the job. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Way said that his intention with his solo album was to reboot shoegaze and Britpop and change the landscape of music in America. Peppers uniform and post-apocalyptic neon biker getups for orange hair, a blue suede suit and a sound more reminiscent of David Bowie, the Smiths and The Jesus and Mary Chain. He has traded in the bulletproof vests, jet-black Sgt. Now, take every expectation that you might have of Way, put them in a little box and bury it in the backyard. It’s no surprise then that when news of singer Gerard Way’s intentions to record a solo album hit the Twittersphere, his former militant-like fan base, the MCRmy, began rallying behind him like a scene out of “Gladiator.

Over its nine-year career, My Chemical Romance cemented itself as the pied piper of sorts for the more angst-driven members of Generation Y.