New My Chemical Romance Song Verdict: Actually Really Good

No really.

Panic! At The Disco and, to a lesser extent, Fall Out Boy proved earlier this year that the line between pop and emo is a very thin one indeed. Infact, the same people who are emos now wanted to be Hannah or Jon from S Club 7 seven years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if Brendan Urie had such aspirations. It's all very reactionary and everything.

But here come My Chemical Romance with a 'new look', which means Gerard Way has had a haircut, a 'new sound', which actually is quite new, well the one new song is. 'Welcome To The Black Parade' starts off sounding as if it's a Rufus Wainwright song (yes - Rufus!) then goes into Queen, then goes back to their familiar emo style, then back to Queen again.

Of course, it still sounds like them. There are the perfunctory emo screams and drums-o-rama and the trademark MCR sound. A good deal of the lure of emo music is the o-t-t theatrics and imagery, which is why I'm not afraid to make bold Rufus comparisons, as his charm is very much the same, but here the sound and theatrics seem to be being read from the same songbook. The lyrics ("one day I'll leave you a phantom to lead in the summer to join the black parade") are typically theatrical and dark (I refuse to say gothic for fear Poe will spin in his grave), and, in true MCR are anthemic enough to have emo-kids across the world rising up and 'dancing' and toying with sub-suicidal-metaphors.

But the guitars sweeping underneath the craziness sound as powerful and lingering as those of Queen, so after they've cried the mascara from their eyes the emo kids might want to don a glittery catsuit and grow a moustache (that's one fashion accessory the emo girls can't pioneer!). Or at least they might start to consider wearing something other than black.

Also: Is there anyone out there who likes My Chemical Romance whose older than me? I mean, do thirty-somethings like it and that?