I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love

I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is the debut studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance, released on July 23, 2002. The album was produced by Thursday vocalist Geoff Rickly at Nada Recording Studio in New Windsor, New York.

The album was recorded with three producers at Nada Recording Studio. Three song demos were recorded in drummer Matt Pelissier’s attic, so the rough cuts of “Skylines and Turnstiles,” “Our Lady Of Sorrows” and “Cubicles” are consequently referred to as the “attic demos.” The tracks later appeared on the band’s greatest hits album, May Death Never Stop You.

This record set a precedent for all the others — following a distinct storyline. All songs include individual stories of love between two individuals who will inevitably be taken away from each other after their beautiful time together. The reason for their separation varies from song to song.

Style and lyrical themes

I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love has a raw sound featuring guitar riffs, very energetic vocals and occasional screaming. Despite being sold under the post-hardcore and alternative rock genres, it is considered an emo album with strong influences from punk rock, hardcore punk and heavy metal.

I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is often regarded as a concept album. It involves two Bonnie and Clyde-esque characters who are eventually gunned down in the desert. On My Chemical Romance's next album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004), the unnamed man supposedly then finds himself in purgatory, where he makes a deal with Satan: his hellbound lover for the souls of a thousand evil men. He is then resurrected and sent on his gruesome task. Though it is generally accepted by the group's core fanbase, this has led some to attribute its supposed existence to over-analysis on the part of hardcore fans. The alleged storyline is not confirmed by the band, but some evidence includes:

• The following album's cover, named "Demolition Lovers" (As is the final song on I Brought You My Bullets...) and its interior artwork (including the text that reads "The story of a man, a woman, and the corpses of a thousand evil men.")

• The lyrical themes of the final songs on both of the band's first two albums, which are "Demolition Lovers" and "I Never Told You What I Do for a Living". The lyrics of the latter include "They gave us two shots to the back of the head and we're all dead now" suggesting that the character (if it is linked to the storyline) has been killed and has failed in saving his lover from Hell.

• The song "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish" from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge also includes themes of a man rising from his grave, who suggests that his purpose in doing so is to commit a murder.

Another theme apparent on the album is the nature of vampires, as in both the undead creatures and, metaphorically speaking, those who seek to corrupt and exploit others. The song "Skylines and Turnstiles" was written shortly after the September 11 attacks and expressed feelings of sorrow and loss, and "Early Sunsets over Monroeville" was inspired by the George A. Romero film Dawn of the Dead. Gerard himself describes it as "a sweet song about Dawn of the Dead", with the lyrics using references from the film. Before the September 11 attacks, Gerard was working as a comic book writer and animator. He was working on a vampire comic (which he never completed), and has also said that is the reason for the vampires in the lyrics.

Cover of the album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love