But the risk pays off, because the boys of My Chemical Romance know how to put on a live show. First, and most importantly, lead singer Gerard Way can actually sing. Tracks like I'm Not Okay (I Promise), Helena and Headfirst For Halos make this point pretty clear. His vocals on these tracks are often pretty close to the studio renditions. Likewise, when he screams, he screams well. For people who can't stand this style of music, that's a hard concept to understand, but one of the things that sets apart a few great bands from the rest is the scream. A well-placed and well-done, solid sounding scream can really make a song. This is the case for these guys. No place is this more poiniant than on You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison, as Way states, I hope you know that this is going to go down on your permenant rrrrreeeeeccccooorrrrrrdddd!!!!!!
However, do not mistake this for a live show with backing vocals or music, and don't expect lip-synching. Most of these songs have various changes throughout (Both vocally and instrumentally) that are difficult to fake on stage, no matter how much it's practiced. No, the boys of My Chemical Romance are putting on an actual show. And they're doing a pretty fine job of it.
However, aside from a die-hard fan, it might be hard to justify buying this disc solely for a couple of live tracks. Do not fret, fence-riding fan. Included on the CD portion of this collection are two demo tracks and one unreleased track. Demos of I Never Told You What I Do For A Living and Bury Me In Black give the disc a nice transition from the live material. And the previously unreleased Desert Song is actually one of the best MCR tracks to date But the extra material does not end there. In fact, this collection includes not just one, but two separate DVDs filled with all kinds of extra material. The first disc is a Video Diary; basically your typical "on-the-road documentary," filled with live material and the band talking about the music, the shows, and a smattering of other things. The second disc contains the three videos for I'm Not Okay (I Promise), Helena and The Ghost Of You, as well as all three "Making The Video" specials (There is also a second version of I'm Not Okay on the disc). Also, the second disc gives you a bunch of television and online performances the band has done. The disc contains performances from MTV2 2$Bill, MTV Discover And Download, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, AOL Sessions, and Live At Launch. The two discs contain over 3 1/2 hours of material, certainly making it worth getting this disc.
Overall, Life From The Murder Scene pays off pretty well. Fans are going to fall even more in love with this band, while those who are undecided could very well jump on the MCR bandwagon. The fact that these guys can actually put on a show and, more importantly, can actually sing and play their instruments, bodes well for them to stick around the industry for a little while.