The time has finally come to dig out your all-black wardrobe, line up on the streets and stand on your tiptoes to get a glimpse of the Black Parade as it once again passes through town. After eight years, My Chemical Romance has at last come together to release a new song titled “The Foundations of Decay,” their first release as a band since 2014.
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When you press play on the new six-minute track, don’t be alarmed: Your ear buds are working just fine. “The Foundations of Decay” starts with nothing but blaring static, joined after a few seconds by mellow electric guitar and piano before a laid-back drumbeat heralds the entrance of frontman Gerard Way’s distorted vocals.
“See the man who stands upon the hill,” he sings. “He dreams of all the battles won. But fate had left scars upon his face, with all the damage they have done.”
By the time the first chorus hits, “The Foundations of Decay” is a full-blown head banger with all the anthemic force of MCR’s beloved 2006 track “Welcome to the Black Parade.” It surges between electric guitar-stamped rage fests and simmering moments of storytelling, before bubbling over into a scream-filled free-for-all.
The new song is a miracle several years in the making, as My Chemical Romance once famously broke punk-rock hearts everywhere by announcing their breakup in 2013. They dropped a single farewell song titled “Fake Your Death” the next year as part of a greatest hits compilation, May Death Never Stop You, before Way and his bandmates Ray Toro, Frank Iero and Mikey Way went their separate ways, leaving fans without new music — until now.
“The Foundations of Decay” is the blessed product of the band’s slow journey toward reconciliation, starting in 2019 with a trickle of reunion shows that eventually turned into a North American tour.
Listen to MCR’s new song “The Foundations of Decay” below:
