My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (Deluxe Edition)
My Chemical Romance
Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge - Deluxe Edition
Release Date: June 6th, 2025 (Original Release Date: June 8th, 2004)
Label: Reprise
Review by Jared Stossel
I’m not sure how much more can be said about Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge - it is a landmark album not only for My Chemical Romance, but for the post-hardcore/emo/whatever you want to categorize it as scene that exploded into pop culture in the early aughts. It is an album that has ferociously stood the test of time (as we have discussed in our own review), and it is a masterpiece in its own right.
To commemorate the twenty-first anniversary of the landmark album, as they gear up to head out on a tour celebrating the anniversary of a different landmark album, New Jersey’s My Chemical Romance have released a special edition of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. This time around, the band recruited GRAMMY Award-winning producer Rich Costey (Foo Fighters, Vampire Weekend, Muse) to completely remix the album. To some fans, this would be considered almost sacrilegious - Three Cheers’ original mix - completed by producer Howard Benson in 2004, is meticulously layered and crafted. I’ll admit, I was skeptical of the band touching something that so many people found to be so sacred.
Hearing Costey’s remix of the album made me feel like I was discovering the album again for the first time. While I do prefer some of the original mixes on Three Cheers, there is something very special about what Costey has done here. Tracks like “Helena” and “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” somehow feel bigger than when I heard them as a teenager. Original drummer Matt Pelissier’s tracks shine in some of these songs, infused with an energy that I didn’t think could be highlighted further than the 2004 mix.
I like the first half of the record, but I have waxed poetic about the fact that the back half of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, beginning with “Thank You For The Venom”, is maybe one of the greatest second halves of an album ever made; there is not a single skippable song. Whatever witchcraft Costey infused into the second half of this album, it worked. “Venom” feels far bigger than it's ever been, nearly blasting out of my headphones upon first listening and aligning it with the metal roots that the band hasn’t nearly been given enough credit for. This particular mix of “It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Death Wish” has not left my rotation since the day the album was released; it feels like someone took the engine that powered the song and infused it with nitrous oxide, Fast and Furious-style. I didn’t think you could improve upon a more perfect song. I was wrong.
The album concludes with four rare, live tracks from a BBC Radio 1 recording session around the release of Three Cheers. Fans will enjoy every second of this re-release. I know the adage goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, but sometimes, there’s nothing wrong with trying something new. This band is still as stellar as they’ve ever been, and larger than they’ve ever been. The newly remixed version of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge demonstrates My Chemical Romance’s ability to withstand the test of time. Long live revenge.
