Cryptic Videos, Theban Script, and Witchcraft... What Is My Chemical Romance Up To?
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While My Chemical Romance had been quiet for several years up until Halloween of 2019, 2020 is proving to be far more exciting for the scene veterans. Starting less than two days ago, a cryptic video surfaced across the bands social media in the form of letters that seem to be from the old alphabet of the Book of Shadows. This had fans in a puzzled uproar as to what these symbols meant, if they meant anything at all.
Fortunately, after digging further into the nature of the video, there are answers to be found. Using the Theban Script (right) to translate, all letters point to “June 10th” as the probable answer. Considering the UK flag can also be found within the video, the band may be hinting at their involvement in one of the most explosive festivals that is taking place that week, Download UK 2020. However, fans were quick to point out that it seems odd that the band would go through such lengths to tease their involvement in Download UK, when they have previously announced their headlining multiple festivals earlier in the year. There must be something much larger here that is being glossed over.
These conclusions led fans to a more exciting speculation in that June 10th may be an album release date. These speculations were further supported by the file name shared on the bands initial tease to include “MRLN” or Merlin, which has been synonymous with My Chemical Romance’s return. While these announcements may go hand-in-hand, in that fans could expect a new album on June 10th and support for the record at Download UK, it is also worth noting that June 10th, 2020 is a Wednesday, which is not typically an album release day in the scene.
By this point, many fans seem to be more puzzled by these developments than anything; however, diving deeper into the history of the June 10th date may provide new clues to unraveling the mystery. Interestingly, on June 10th 1692 a young girl by the name of Bridget Bishop was wrongfully accused of witchcraft and was hanged for her supposed crimes on the British colonial settlement of Massachusetts Bay. This lends credence to the fact that they deliberately chose to use such lettering and the UK flag in the post.
Discussions on the matter will continue to development until fans finally get an official announcement from the band. What is My Chemical Romance trying to tell the scene? Will they be involved in Download UK 2020? Will they be releasing an album on June 10th? Only time will tell what is next for this cryptic and fascinating story.
UPDATE #1: The mystery continues to develop, as it was made public that a division of Warner Music had reposted the teaser video to their social media, but with some slight changes. This new version included an image of a forest that vocalist Gerard Way has posted to his own accounts some time before this strange video surfaced and chilling symphonic background music. While not much has been deciphered about these additions, the video was also tagged with the location, London, England, and was captioned ‘LFG’. Many fans have surmised this may be another tour or festival date, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
What is most interesting about these events, is that the video was taken down just 18 hours after its original posting, leading fans to suspect there is more to be revealed within these changes.
Image from Twitter
UPDATE #2: Teasers continue to roll in from the MCR camp, and fans are quick to come up with new and exciting theories. Most recently, the band posted an image (right) of what looks like a gurney covered in a hospital sheet, captioned with a single vampire emoji.
Fans were quick to point the similar imagery to the opening sequence of the video for “Welcome to the Black Parade”, where the protagonist of The Black Parade, The Patient, meets his untimely death. Expanding on this possible link, one Twitter user drew an even more interesting connection in that the actor who plays The Patient in the music video also plays a vampire in another film. With previously teased imagery related to witchcraft, could My Chemical Romance be hinting at a return or revival of The Patient? Could this represent a follow-up to the band’s pinnacle album?
Vampire themes have been synonymous with My Chemical Romance since their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, so this caption may just be referencing the band’s history, but it’s worth exploring every possibility at this point.