The Foundations of Decay


"The Foundations of Decay" is a song by the American rock band My Chemical Romance. It was surprise-released as a single on May 12, 2022, by Reprise Records. It was written by the band with lyrics by lead singer Gerard Way, and produced by Doug McKean, Way, and guitarist Ray Toro. Alongside the band's main lineup, it features drummer Jarrod Alexander and keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac. It was the band's first release since "Fake Your Death".
"The Foundations of Decay" has been described as a progressive rock, gothic rock, and post-hardcore song, with elements from genres like doom metal and arena rock. Its lyrics focus on the band's history, legacy, and the September 11 attacks, which resulted in the band's creation. They also explore ideas such as incorruptibility, canonization, and misogyny.
The song was well received by critics, who praised its composition and themes. Several publications considered it one of the best songs released in 2022. It charted in several countries, reaching number 1 on the Rock & Metal chart in the United Kingdom and number 132 on the Billboard Global 200. On May 17, Warner Records released the song onto [Mainstream radio|mainstream rock radio], and the band debuted it live at the Eden Project. It was used as the opening song for every show of their Reunion Tour afterwards.

Background, production and release

Six years after their break-up, My Chemical Romance got back together for a reunion show on December 20, 2019. They subsequently scheduled more shows worldwide, including a run of summer festival shows in mainland Europe and a North American tour. In June 2021, the band's lead singer Gerard Way stated in an interview that he was working on music with Doug McKean, the engineer behind two of the band's past studio albums: The Black Parade and Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.
McKean produced "The Foundations of Decay" alongside Gerard Way and guitarist Ray Toro. McKean also engineered the song, while Rich Costey and Jeff Citron mixed it and Mike Bozzi mastered it. Alongside the main band lineup of Gerard Way, guitarists Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way, it features Jarrod Alexander on drums and Jamie Muhoberac on keyboard. Gerard Way wrote the lyrics, while the band itself is credited for songwriting. "The Foundations of Decay" was the last project McKean worked on before his death in July 2022.
"The Foundations of Decay" was surprise-released digitally on May 12, 2022, by Reprise Records. Warner Records released it to mainstream rock radio on May 17. It was the band's first single since "Fake Your Death" in 2014. The cover art and visualizer video on YouTube, the former of which was designed by Aaron Hymes, depicts mounds of flies swarming around. It was used as the opening track for every show of the band's reunion tour; the first show of the tour marked the song's first live performance. They later performed it at 2022's Riot Fest, and during their Long Live The Black Parade tour.

Music

Composition

"The Foundations of Decay" is a six-minute long song that has been described as progressive rock, gothic rock, and post-hardcore. It also incorporates elements of doom metal, basement punk, arena rock, post-metal, metalcore, and noise rock. Em Moore of Exclaim! described it as featuring several "acts" that individually showcase the "myriad ways the band have expanded their sound, bringing in more elements from noise rock, doom and prog". The New York Times described it as "prog-emo".
It opens up with static noise before introducing a mellow electric guitar, piano, and a "laid-back drumbeat" paired with Gerard Way's distorted vocals. It then crescendos into the chorus, which Hannah Dailey of Billboard described as having "anthemic force" in a similar vein to the band's 2006 single "Welcome to the Black Parade". Ali Shutler of NME compared the opening guitar to the intro of Aerosmith's "Dream On". "The Foundations of Decay" goes between guitar breakdowns slower-paced moments that highlight the lyrics, which were described by Dailey as "electric guitar-stamped rage fests" and "simmering moments of storytelling", respectively. Shutler believed that the composition combined elements from their past studio albums, viewing the guitar breakdown to be similar to one from The Black Parade. Maria Sherman of NPR compared it to songs found on the band's first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. Sherman and Moore compared it to that album's "Demolition Lovers", with Moore likening their usage of multiple acts and Sherman comparing their opening guitar segments.

Lyrics

The lyrics discuss the band's origins and legacy. The song's opening was described by Shutler as Gerard Way "wrestling" his legacy and age, and viewed some of the lyrics as him battling nihilism, nostalgia, as well as finding safety behind doing nothing. When discussing the group's beginnings, the song references the September 11 attacks with Gerard Way describing his experiences that day, which led to the creation of My Chemical Romance.
As the song continues, it becomes more optimistic and hopeful, as Gerard Way says to go "against faith". The guitar breakdown in the middle of the track consists of Gerard Way screaming in a manner that Eli Enis of Revolver viewed as reminiscent of black metal. By the end of the track, Gerard Way softly expresses his desire to continue doing nothing as the song begins to fade out, before he yells "get up coward". Billboard described ending as a "scream-filled free-for-all".
The lyrics also contain Catholic imagery and themes; the phrase about laying in the "foundations of decay" represents incorruptibility and waiting for canonization. The same verse that references canonization also covers misogyny. Cassie Whitt of Alternative Press viewed the verse about the September 11 attacks to be similar to the hero's journey trope, believing that each lyric represented a specific stage of the trope: the "call to adventure", the "adventure begins", the "allies made", and the "trials and ordeals". She also believed that the full song could be interpreted as someone refusing to accept the call to adventure until a supernatural force intervenes, represented by the "get up coward" line.

Critical reception and legacy

Many writers praised the composition. Sarah Jamieson of DIY viewed it as combing the band's past works into one, describing it as a "slow burning offering that swells into frenetic life" throughout its runtime, highlighting its latter half. Ali Shutler of NME considered it to be the band reinventing themselves, with "fire, urgency and plenty of joy". Mitchell Peters of Billboard highlighted Gerard Way's performance, describing it as "impeccable". Dailey described the song as going from "guitar-stamped rage fests" to "simmering moments of storytelling", while Enis described it as their heaviest release since Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.
Several writers complimented the lyrics and themes, with Peters writing that it demonstrated My Chemical Romance's storytelling capabilities. Shutler believed that he song's lyrics demonstrated that the band hadn't lost any of its talent during their time separated. They further wrote that while the band writing new music could've been risky due to their past works' reverence, it was "never bogged down with legacy". Jack Rodgers of Rock Sound described it as "six minutes of dark, destitute and dramatic story-telling and world-building" that was unlike anything the band had released up to that point.
Jamieson described the release as a "grand statement" and a "return of epic proportions", while Shutler said it was a "fierce, fearless return". Rodgers deemed it a "defining moment" in the band's return that showed that they " serious business". In their review of the band's live performance at the Barclays Center in September 2022, Danielle Chelosky of Alternative Press described "The Foundations of Decay" as a quintessential song in My Chemical Romance's discography. In 2025, Moore ranked "The Foundations of Decay" as My Chemical Romance's fifteenth best song, writing that the "wait for new music was well worth it".
Several media outlets listed it as one of the best songs of 2022, with the staff teams of The Los Angeles Times and NME ranking it as the twenty-second and twenty-third best song of the year, respectively. Suzy Exposito of The Los Angeles Times described it as a "fist, bursting defiantly from the soil" towards people who thought that emo music was no longer relevant. NME described it as a comeback that exceeded the expectations of older and newer emo music fans. Rodgers included it in an un-ranked list of the year's ten best songs.

Commercial performance

"The Foundations of Decay" debuted at number 132 on the Billboard Global 200. In the United States, "The Foundations of Decay" received 497,000 streams and 1,900 digital sales within a few hours of release. In its first few days, it received 1.1 million radio audience impressions. In a Billboard readers poll, it was voted by over 40% of readers as the week's best song. It peaked at number 2 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, 7 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, 11 on Digital Song Sales, and 16 on Rock & Alternative Airplay. On the Year-End charts, "The Foundations of Decay" ranked at number 24 on the US Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. In the United Kingdom, it reached number 1 on the Rock & Metal chart and number 37 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the band's ninth top 40 single in the country. Elsewhere, the song reached number 7 in New Zealand, 56 in Ireland, 80 in Australia, and 92 in Canada.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the digital liner notes.
;Musicians
;Technicals

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history