My Chemical Romance have given their Los Angeles fans a preview of what could have been this week, playing the unreleased track “War Beneath the Rain” at their recent Dodger Stadium show.
Currently performing around North America as part of their Long Live The Black Parade Tour, My Chemical Romance have been setting their sights on history at their recent dates with a full performance of their 2006 album, The Black Parade.
Alongside the classic record (which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200), the group’s set has also featured the band sharing a bunch of fan favorites to close the show.
However, on Saturday (July 26) at the band’s first of a two-night Dodger Stadium residency, the unreleased track “War Beneath the Rain” was added to their live set for the first time.
“I don’t remember how long ago it was, but before the band broke up, we had a studio in North Hollywood and we were making a record that never came out,” frontman Gerard Way said of the song. “And this was one of the songs we really loved from it.
“It was just us in the studio with our friend Doug McKean, he was there recording it. His family’s here tonight, I want this to go out to them.”
McKean – who had worked with the band on records such as The Black Parade as an audio engineer – passed away in 2022 at the age of 54 following an unexpected brain hemorrhage.
The Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer’s career featured work with the likes of Green Day, Simple Plan, and Paramore, while his work with My Chemical Romance extended through to the band’s latest single, 2022’s surprise-released “The Foundations of Decay.”
At the time of their initial break-up in 2013, My Chemical Romance had been working on their fifth album, which was later revealed to have been titled The Paper Kingdom.
A concept album, Way reportedly explained that the album was “really dark,” and that its storyline involved “a support group of parents who are dealing with the loss of their children” that construct a narrative about their children fighting a witch in the woods.
Previously, only one other song from these sessions had been released, with “Fake Your Death” appearing on the band’s 2014 compilation album, May Death Never Stop You. It’s unknown how much of the album was completed or if the band have any future plans to give it an official release.
My Chemical Romance will continue their current North American tour until September, with a run of South American dates also planned for January and February 2026.
