I have been listening to MCR for quite sometime (I saw them open for Thursday back in the day), and like most older fans I prefer the original above all (I liked Three Cheers, not the Black Parade so much). It is by far their most raw, inaccessible, dark album to date, since they were not yet the "mainstream" dark pseudo-gothic band that they've become. Here Gerard Way is giving his heart and soul, and honestly I prefer these songs musically (even without the Guitar Hero solos, and string arrangements). This showed the raw potential that the big record labels were looking to exploit, and turn into mainstream corporate rock (face it that's where it's at now).