Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably already know by now that My Chemical Romance have returned with their first new taste of music in over eight years with “The Foundations of Decay.” The bombastic new track from MCR features several bread crumbs to where the band originated from, while still moving the needle forward in their musical evolution. The six-minute song is filled with anthemic moments courtesy of the four core band members, Gerard Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero, and Mikey Way, while each band member hits their intended target on this aggressive-sounding single. My Chemical Romance made their triumphant return to the stage yesterday in the U.K. and their set kicked off with this song to establish the tone for their legendary material that followed.
Starting off the song with a fuzzy, brooding guitar amp sound that eventually bleeds away for a cleaner-toned guitar riff from Toro allows for Gerard Way to set the mood for the new single. Gerard sings softly in the first verse over a slow building riff, “See the man who stands upon the hill / He dreams of all the battles won / But fate had left its scars upon his face / With all the damage they had done,” paying direct homage to the third-person storytelling that the band has grown accustomed to over their career. The pre-chorus of, “And so time, with age / He turns the page / Let the flesh / Submit itself to gravity,” is very well-crafted and explodes into one of the better, and boldest, choruses the band has made to date.
The second verse alludes to the beginning stages of the band, where Gerard Way is reminded of the tragedy of 9/11 that marked a key turning point in his career, as he sings, “He was there, the day the towers fell / And so he wandered down the road / And we would all build towers of our own / Only to watch the rooms corrode / But it’s much too late / You’re in the race / So we’ll press / And press ’til you can’t take it anymore.” By keeping one eye on the past to where they came from, and another eye steadily on the path that lays before them, My Chemical Romance have done a nice mix of nodding to their past material while still adding something new and interesting into the mix.
The middle sequence of the song features an aggressive musical breakdown that features some pulsating drumming courtesy of Jarrod Alexander, whose fills explode out into the forefront of the production. The metal-esque power chords from Toro and Iero complement the hard-nosed screams from Gerard as he emphatically shouts, “Against faith (Antihero) / Against all life (As if it must be pure) / Against change (We wander through the ruins) / We are free (The guiltiness is yours).” The band is getting back to the Bullets-era aggressiveness, with a blend of some of the style they went for on Conventional Weapons-era songs like “The Light Behind Your Eyes,” and yet they still leave plenty of room for mystery for where they can take their sound next.
The song closes out much like it begins, with some squealing guitars and more fuzzy guitar amp sounds before leaving the listener wondering just what exciting direction they will continue upon their odyssey of self-discovery. The clues that the band have left us with make me believe that My Chemical Romance will release their boldest artistic statement to date whenever the rest of the songs from these sessions are released. MCR have done the near-impossible by solidifying their legacy of the material that came before them, while manufacturing a new song that leaves their fans in awe of their creative ability to showcase the limitless possibilities of their ever-evolving sound.