From their emergence out of New Jersey's punk scene to the groundbreaking 2006 rock opera, "The Black Parade," My Chemical Romance had been subject to myriads of critical acclaim and controversy. Regardless of how the public perceived both their sound and image, they maintained a common theme of morbid resilience through three increasingly innovative LPs. Each new album shattered the dynamic of its predecessor, as vocalist Gerard Way spearheaded the band in revolutionizing the band's music entirely.

2006's "The Black Parade" saw the band in their grandest, most profound form, tackling the notion of the afterlife and all faces of the most inhuman emotions the band had experienced. They pulled out their hearts ad laid them on the table in "The Black Parade," marking their own significance in the emo, pop, and rock realms alike, but also claiming to have "said all they had to say" according to Way in multiple interviews. Three years of near silence led the band and its followers to wonder what would come next.

Out of the ambiguity, and in direct contrast to the subject matter and aesthetic of The Black Parade, came something no My Chem fan would have expected, that being vibrant colors, pulsing synths, and a spunky energy so foreign to their previous records. Since its 2009 release, "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys" has been regarded as an undeniably fun, but messy and unfocused album by fans, critics, and the more vocal members of the band.

Way cites "Danger Days" to this day as a sign that he was burnt out on the cathartic message that My Chemical Romance embodied and furthered the band's incentive to pull the plug. The fact that the band confessed their indifference towards "Danger Days" made its very recent pulse of acclaim particularly odd.

Last month, the album's continuous sales sparked an advancement to a certified gold status. Though it's evident that the late MCR still deserves recognition for their contribution to the alt-rock scene of the 2000's, determining whether or not "Danger Days" stacks up to the bleak-yet-grand "Black Parade" or visceral "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" is much harder to answer.

To make such a judgment without context would be unfair, however, and the truth behind the album's utter shift in tone came the fact that My Chemical Romance had already made their mark."The Black Parade" was something Gerard Way had planned since the band had formed, conceptualizing for the album gradually as the band found success through "Three Cheers." The time finally came in 2006. "The Black Parade" came to life, swept over the world in a theatrical display of the band's campy imagery and aptitude for brilliance, and then died out, leaving countless marching band jacket replicas in its wake.

By the end of 2007, My Chemical Romance was burnt out and Way was fresh out concepts for further albums. This marked the first time the band took a step back from making music together, each focusing on endeavors of their own. Way turned his attention to his Eisner-winning comic series "The Umbrella Academy" and rhythm guitarist Frank Iero fronted the hardcore punk band Leathermouth until 2009, when they recorded a proto-punk cover of Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row" for the film adaptation of "The Watchmen." This cover was successful in bringing a new dynamic to My Chemical Romance's sound, and they decided to regroup and take this newfound aggression to the studio.

After initially recording what was later released between 2012 and 2013 as "Conventional Weapons," the band decided that this new sound was lacking the creative edge that had graced their previous efforts, and took to the studio for further conceptualization. At this time, Way decided on an aesthetic that would contradict that of "The Black Parade" entirely. What he generated was much more exuberant, colorful, and fun than "The Black Parade," with the concept of a Mad Max-esque, apocalyptic world that saw the band as gun-slinging, flamboyantly clad comical outcasts who fight robotic vampires representative of the music industry that they grew to despise.

My Chemical Romance's contempt for how the media received their previous works replaced the central point they had killed off in "The Black Parade," with the majority of "Danger Days'" tracks taking a jab at the music industry through the lens of the futuristic world the album was album was set in. This angst-fueled focus in the lyrics was juxtaposed by a sound that Way had been interested in experimenting with, but never thought to bring to a My Chem record, that being a mix of David Bowie brand glam-rock and synth-pop.

The opening track, "Na Na Na," perfectly combined the guitar-heavy aggression crucial to any My Chemical Romance song with the electricity of their new progressive sound, resulting in a full-throttle anthem with an aggression reminiscent of songs like "Give 'em Hell, Kid." Preceded by a radio announcement turned call to arms, Way sneers along with the lead riff into an explosive, layered chorus, never breaking speed or energy until the bridge. The guitars slow here, coiling their way back up as Gerard preaches of the filthy people living in their fictional wasteland, before working the energy back up into a guitar solo and a final, extended chorus that chugs its way to an end.

What follows the lead of "Na na na" is a series of hits and misses, unfortunately, as the sound the band tried so hard to pull off proves flimsy at times. "Bulletproof Heart" is one of these culprits, which reaches for a rock-opera effect but just falls short in excitement. The album then takes a stab at vocal-centric arena rock with "SING" to some success, despite its lyrics being a little too cut-and-dry, and dives headfirst into the synth-heavy dance sound they set out to pull off with "Planetary[GO!]" The lyrics of this pulsating disco number are clever enough, reflecting the artificial nature of the modern music industry, but the song maintains this almost strained energy for its 4-minute run-time, leading into "The Only Hope For Me Is You," another progressive, post-apocalyptic song that feeds off the little energy apparent in "Bulletproof Heart." In no way whatsoever are these songs bad, but they suggest that My Chemical Romance lost their drive after "The Black Parade."

Though the aforementioned tracks imply the band's exhaustion, Way blatantly admits this in the album's melancholy ballad, "The Kids From Yesterday." As the title suggests, the instrumentally distant and slow-burning track includes cryptic lyrics like "We'll find you when the sun goes black," and "You only hear the music when your heart begins to break." Way refers to the band, themselves, as "The Kids From Yesterday," which speaks most profoundly now that the band is no more. This proves "Danger Days" as the band's true swan song. If that's the case, though, the album doesn't see MCR go quietly.

The second half of "Danger Days" is more ingrained in the hard-rock and proto-punk that proved so successful in "Desolation Row" and scrapped tracks like "Boy Division" and "Burn Bright." "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back" pulls the album from its droning disco tendencies with a guitar-heavy kick in the teeth left to fester in the fever-dream psychedelia of "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W" and sweetly heal with the help of "Summertime," a romantic, sighed love song drawing evident inspiration from The Smashing Pumpkins' "1979." The album screams its way back to life with the grating, industrial monster that is "DESTROYA" before seemingly ending on a low note with "The Kids From Yesterday."

The radio host from the beginning signs off, stating "The lights are out and party's over," before playing the show off with a recording of the Star Spangled Banner. The song climaxes, leaving the listener content, but then blares guitar feedback and sequel into one last song. "Vampire Money" is one of the more straight-forward tracks on "Danger Days," beginning with a vocal check and quickly breaking in rockabilly punk criticism of a particular offer that left the band in utter disgust with the scene they had created with their dark imagery. Way cites an offer to record a song for the film adaptation of "Twilight" as inspiration for the song. This is easily the most clever moment on the album, denouncing any similarity between My Chemical Romance and whatever dark imagery was selling to overdramatic teens at the time.

In no ways is "Danger Days" a game-changer for any music scene, nor does it even begin to scratch the surface of an album as triumphant as "The Black Parade." MCR was fully aware of that, and wrote this album with the intention of tackling the opposition created by "The Black Parade's" friction. This notion makes "Danger Days" so enjoyable when viewed as a comical take on the more serious issues the band faced throughout the high point of their career. With this in mind, and the fact that, both "The Black Parade" and "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" are both certified Platinum albums, it's fair to say that Danger Days is deserving of whatever's second best.