# 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. The song was produced by Doug McKean alongside band members Gerard Way and Ray Toro. The band wrote the song, while Way wrote the lyrics. Alongside the band's main lineup, the song features Jarrod Alexander and Jamie Muhoberac on drums and keyboard respectively.
A progressive rock, gothic rock, post-hardcore, and emo song with elements from other genres like doom metal and arena rock, its lyrics discuss the band's history, legacy, as well as events like the September 11 attacks, which played a role in the creation of the band. It also explores ideas such as incorruptibility, canonization and misogyny.
"The Foundations of Decay" was the first song released by the band since "Fake Your Death" (2014). It was later released to mainstream rock radio on May 17 through Warner Records, and the band debuted it live at the Eden Project that same day. The song was well received from critics, who highlighted the song's composition and themes. Some media outlets 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.

## Background, production and release

Several years after their break-up in 2013, the American rock band My Chemical Romance announced their first reunion show in Los Angeles, which took place took place on December 20, 2019. Afterwards, the band subsequently scheduled more reunion shows worldwide, including a run of summer festival shows in mainland Europe, followed by the announcement of a North American tour. In June 2021, the band's frontman 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 (2006) and Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010).
McKean produced "The Foundations of Decay" alongside Gerard Way and 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 lead singer Gerard, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way, the song features Jarrod Alexander on drums and Jamie Muhoberac on keyboard. Gerard Way also wrote the song's lyrics, while the band itself is credited for songwriting. The single's cover art was designed by Aaron Hymes, and depicts mounds of flies flying around. "The Foundations of Decay" was the last project that Doug McKean worked on before his death in July 2022.
"The Foundations of Decay" was released digitally on May 12, 2022 by Reprise Records. The song was released without any prior announcement, and was the first song the band had released since "Fake Your Death". A visualizer of "The Foundations of Decay" was also released, depicting a similar swarm of flies as the one found in the cover artwork. The single was later released to mainstream rock radio on May 17 by Warner Records. That same day, the band debuted it live at the Eden Project in Cornwall as that show's opening track. It was the first show of the European branch of the band's reunion tour. The song was later used as an opening track in the rest of their reunion shows in Europe. The song was also performed at 2022's Riot Fest.

## Composition and lyrics

"The Foundations of Decay" is six-minute long emo, progressive rock, gothic rock, and post-hardcore song. It also incorporates elements of doom metal, basement punk, arena rock, post-metal, and metalcore. The New York Times described the song as "prog-emo". The song opens up with static noise, before introducing a mellow electric guitar, piano, and a "laid-back drumbeat" paired with Gerard's distorted vocals. Ali Shutler of NME compared the song's opening guitar to the intro of "Dream On" by Aerosmith. "The Foundations of Decay" then crescendos into the chorus, which Billboard described as a "full-blown head banger" with "anthemic force" in a similar vein to the band's 2006 single "Welcome to the Black Parade". Billboard also wrote that the song "surges between electric guitar-stamped rage fests and simmering moments of storytelling". Shutler believed that the song's composition combined elements from their past studio albums, viewing the "guitar breakdown" to be similar to one from The Black Parade. Both Maria Sherman of NPR and Shutler compared the song to those found on the band's first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002), with Sherman comparing it to that album's "Demolition Lovers".
The lyrics of the song discusses the band's origins and legacy. The song's opening was described by Shutler as Gerard "wrestling" his legacy and age ("Let the flesh submit itself to gravity"), and viewed some of the song's lines as him battling nihilism, nostalgia, as well as finding safety behind doing nothing and questioning the band's continued existence. When discussing the group's beginnings, the song references the September 11 attacks by describing Gerard’s own experiences that day and what inspired him to found My Chemical Romance. As the song continues, it becomes more optimistic and hopeful, as Gerard states to go "against faith". At the end of the track, Gerard softly expresses his desire to continue doing nothing ("Yes, it comforts me much more" / "To lay in the foundations of decay") as the song begins to fade out, before he yells "get up, coward". Billboard described the song's ending as a "scream-filled free-for-all".
In addition to the covering the band's beginnings, the song also covers Catholic imagery and themes, with "laying in the foundations of decay" representing the idea of incorruptibility and waiting for canonization. In the same verse that references canonization, the song also covers misogyny ("And so he gets to die a saint" / "But she will always be a whore"). When discussing the song's verse about the September 11 attacks, Cassie Whitt of Alternative Press viewed the lyrics to be similar to the hero's journey trope. They believed that each line of that verse represented a specific stage of the theme: the "call to adventure", the "adventure begins", the "allies made", and the "trials and ordeals". Whitt further wrote that the entire song could be interpreted as someone refusing to accept the call to adventure until a "supernatural force" intervenes, represented by the "get up, coward" lyric.

## Critical reception

Many writers praised the song's composition. Sarah Jamieson of DIY viewed the song as combing the band's past works into one, as well as a "slow burning offering that swells into frenetic life" throughout its runtime, highlighting the latter half of the song. Ali Shutler of NME described the song as having "fire, urgency and plenty of joy", and considered the song as the band "reinventing themselves". Mitchell Peters of Billboard highlighted Gerard Way's performance in the song, describing it as "impeccable". Eli Enis of Revolver wrote that the song was the "heaviest thing they've released" since Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004).
Several writers complimented the song's lyrics and themes, with Peters writing that it demonstrated My Chemical Romance's "epic storytelling". Shutler believed that the 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.
Critics also found the song to be a standout moment in the band's history, with Jamieson writing that the song was a "grand statement" and a "return of epic proportions" and Shutler describing it as a ""fierce, fearless return". Rodgers described the song as a "defining moment" in the band's return that showed that they "[meant] 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.
Several media outlets listed the song as one of the best to release in 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 the song as a "fist, bursting defiantly from the soil" towards people who thought that emo music was no longer relevant. NME described it as comeback that exceeded the expectations of older and newer emo music fans. Rodgers listed it as one of the ten best songs released that year.

## 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. It also received 1.1 million radio audience impressions within its first few days. In a Billboard readers poll on the week of its release, the song was voted by over 40% of readers as the best song to release that week. It then went on to peak 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, the song 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

* Gerard Way – vocals, synthesizer, songwriter, producer, lyricist
* Jarrod Alexander – drums
* Frank Iero – guitar, vocals, songwriter
* Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards
* Michael James Way – bass, songwriter
* Raymond Toro – guitar, songwriter, producer

### Technicals

* Mike Bozzi – mastering engineer
* Rich Costey – mixing engineer
* Doug McKean – recording engineer, producer
* Jeff Citron – assistant mixing engineer

## Release history

Release history for "The Foundations of Decay" :
| Region | Date | Format | Label | Ref. |
| Various | May 12, 2022 | Digital downloadstreaming | Reprise | |
| United States | May 17, 2022 | Mainstream rock radio | Warner | |