Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (often shortened to Three Cheers or Revenge) is the second studio album by the American rock band My Chemical Romance, released on June 8, 2004, by Reprise Records. The album was produced by Howard Benson, and was written and recorded from late 2003 to March 2004. Writing sessions were highly influenced by the mental health and personal lives of the band members, particularly the death of Gerard and Mikey Way's grandmother.
Revenge has been characterized as multiple genres: emo, alternative rock, pop punk, post-hardcore, punk rock, and pop rock. The album's more polished sound and extended production period marked a shift from the band's preceding release, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002). The style of tracks range from those aligned with traditional punk rock to more pop-structured tracks. Central themes of the album include love, loss, and revenge, with some songs also covering exploring one's gender and sexuality. The album follows a loose narrative that serves as a continuation of "Demolition Lovers" from Bullets; following the titular characters deaths, they are separated between heaven and hell, only able to re-unite should the male lover harvest the souls of a thousand men.
The album received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success for both the band and the Reprise label. The record produced three singles—"I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena", and "The Ghost of You". It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) less than a year after its release, and has sold over three million copies in the United States. A "deluxe edition" of the album, with all of the original tracks remixed and four live recordings, was released on June 6, 2025.
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is the second album of emo band My Chemical Romance. In some way their music has aged like good wine. At the time I thought it was ok and not more than that, but nowadays I really enjoy it. The Black Parade is a better album, but this one shows a preview of what's to come. "Helena", "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" and "The Ghost of You" are great songs and the rest of the album is not bad either. Not any filler material there.
I loved The Black Parade and this one did not disappoint! Some interesting variety here with some real pop punk, emo, and Interlude evoked Radiohead a bit… what a great listen!
Hard to compete with the decade-defining masterpiece that is The Black Parade, but this is still a fun and extremely catchy album from MCR. The singles still bang after all this time, now I'll have "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" stuck in my head for like a week.
Wasn’t as familiar with this LP as I am with Black Parade, and enjoyed hearing some new-to-me MCR. The band’s brand of blistering pop-punk has aged quite well relative to their peers, and this was another fun listen even if it feels a bit more understated and homogeneous than their other efforts. No doubting the cultural significance and impact of this band, so this feels like a worthy addition to the list.
A band name I always recognize but can never remember what their deal is. Competent post-punk, hardcore-adjacent rock is what. It's fine but I can never shake the feeling that things it reminds me of (Hüsker Dü, Bad Religion, Suburbs, Operation Ivy) did it better and frankly with more fun. So Dark. Grim end tale for the drummer too, friendly reminder that nitrous can kill you dead (I get it's not for sure that's what did it but you know, Occam's Razor). Dentist gives you oxygen with it for a reason, kiddos.
I think it's okay. A little too early 2000s emo with that edginess but it was a product of its time.
My personal rating: 3/5
My rating relative to the list: 3.5/5
Should this have been included on the original list? No.
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