My Chemical Romance: Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys

As embarrassing as its title is to type, “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)” is even more embarrassing to listen to. The song is the first single from Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys, My Chemical Romance’s fourth full-length, and its hammering, yammering idiocy might as well be mall-punk’s last gasp. The sad thing is, MCR didn’t used to be entirely this dumb. While rife with flaws, the group’s previous album, 2006’s The Black Parade, is a sprawling post-emo opera that deserves points for its Pink Floyd-lite ambition. Danger Days is likewise a concept album, but the pieces don’t hinge together at all; in fact, the elements that barely unite the disc include an annoying, Warriors-esque DJ voiceover delivered by Mindless Self Indulgence’s Steve, Righ and a bunch of ridiculous science-fiction laser noises injected randomly throughout. There’s a narrative to be found somewhere in the midst of the mess—one that involves each member of MCR assuming the guise of a superhero or whatever—but wading through the music to find the full story is about as pleasurable as fishing a cell phone out of a toilet. Pretentious yet lunkheaded, the disc’s only charm is its slick, fist-pumping arrogance. On the off chance that anyone needs a reminder of how desperate and irrelevant ’80s hair-metal sounded circa 1990, here it is.