“May Death Never Stop You” is the finale to My Chemical Romance’s epic 12-year career. The band called it quits in 2013 while working on, what would have been, their fifth album. “May Death Never Stop You” is the last album to be released by MCR and features their greatest hits, their final song “Fake Your Death” and three unheard demos from their first album. The unheard demos are “Skylines And Turnstiles” their very first song, “Knives/Sorrow” and “Cubicles.” MCR’s greatest hits album reflects a transformation from their nitty-gritty beginning with “I Brought You Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love” to their colorful, upbeat album “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.”
The album opens with “Fake Your Death,” a soft melancholy anthem that’s reminiscent of a graduation song, a final farewell. From there the album switches to the dark and intense intro of “Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us.” Honey is one of the two songs featured from MCR’s first album “Bullets.” The other is “Vampires,” a slow but equally dark song. “Bullets” was the band’s dark beginnings as they all looked for a way to make a difference with their sound.
“Helena” is next on the tracklist. This song is an ode to lead singer and bassist Gerard and Mikey Way’s late grandmother Elena. It is among the many recognizable songs from “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge,” MCR’s second album. “Revenge” catapulted the band into rock stardom with its energetic sound and relatable lyrics. There are two other songs from “Revenge” on this album, “You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison” and the song that singlehandedly brought the band their success “I’m Not OK.” “I’m Not OK” was the first single the band debuted from this album and it instantly became a hit on the radio landing at number four on Billboard’s Modern Rock list.
A small break is taken in the form of “The Ghost of You.” A softer melody that gradually picks up. This is the beginning of the hits from “The Black Parade,” MCR’s third and most creative album. “The Black Parade” tells the story of a dying man’s journey through the afterlife until he finally comes to rest. This album debuted in 2009, eight years after “Bullets,” and shows how refined and “softer” MCR’s sound has gotten since then. “The Ghost of You” is the first of six songs featured from this album. The others featured are “Welcome to the Black Parade,” “Cancer,” “Mama,” “Teenagers” and “Famous Last Words.”
MCR concludes their greatest hits with songs from “Danger Days,” the band’s fourth album. Inspired by things like the Holi festival in India and David Bowie’s “Diamond Dogs” album, “Danger Days” is a big difference from the darker tones of MCR’s earlier albums.The first song featured is “Na Na Na.” A bright melody that is the first single MCR released after a 4-year hiatus. “SING,” “Planetary (GO!)” and “The Kids From Yesterday” are also featured from their fourth album. “The Kids From Yesterday” is the last greatest hit and also the band’s favorite song they’ve made. It’s equivalent to a “cool-down” with its slower beat and uplifting lyrics. On this track, MCR talks about being okay with growing up in your own way. It’s the perfect ending to this album, but the album is not over.
After ending on such a good track the album immediately goes into the three unheard demos bringing you back to the band’s harsher and unedited days. The drastic jump from “The Kids From Yesterday” to “Skylines And Turnstiles” can be pretty jarring. To have them placed where they were almost defeated the purpose of having the songs put together by album. It was like showing their progression as a band and then regressing back to the beginning. Maybe the demos would’ve been better on a B-Side or at the beginning of the album with the rest of the songs from “Bullets.”
Nitpicking aside, the album is a nice trip down memory lane. Always being one to go out with a bang, MCR ends a great run with a great album. “May Death Never Stop You” is an amazing greatest hits album that shows MCR’s progress as a band from the beginning to the end and is absolutely worth a listen.
