Welcome to the inaugural “Song of the Day” post on Alternative Echo, where we’ll be delivering a track to you once per day, every day. These songs won’t necessarily be new, and it’s very possible you’ve heard them before. However, the SOTD is meant to give a daily shoutout to one of our favorite songs, and more specifically, the songs that we’re really digging that day, along with some cool word flow about it. Sound good? Here we go.

For the very first SOTD, we’re bringing one of our absolute favorites, a song that perfectly blends together raw emotion, driving rock and the most angelic emo choir to have ever blessed your ears: “AMBULANCE” by My Chemical Romance.

“AMBULANCE” is the first of two tracks on MCR’s Number Two, taken from the band’s compilation album Conventional Weapons. Between October 2012 and March 2013, the band released Number One through Number Five, each album containing two songs recorded prior to the release of their fourth and final LP, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. (Interesting fact you might not know: this is the last time fans were able to hear drummer Bob Bryar, as he called it quits with the band before Danger Days.)

All it takes is three seconds of listening to understand why we’ve chosen this song to kick the series off with.

There’s no amping up for this song, no slow start, no gradual incline. It is full-throttle from the start. Gerard Way’s three-part harmony jolts through your eardrums and pierces through your temporal lobe, straight to the limbic system, causing you to feel that intense rush of emotion unrivaled by any other modern singer attempting to record their own three-part harmony. It stands in a class all its own.

Of course, when you start a song so strongly, it’s hard to keep listener retention up. You start to think, “Okay, we get it,” then skip to the next song.

You can see where I’m going with this.

MCR said, “We’re gonna lay this hype-bar riiiight here, and — What’s that? You think that’s it? Ha, just you wait till the chorus.”

You’re listening to the song, you’re jiving along with it, and then BAM. Pre-chorus. Gerard Way yell/sings the line that rattles your bones: “‘Cause we are not afraid/And we are not ashamed.”

And then the chorus hits.

Due to it not being included on an LP, “AMBULANCE” is one of the lesser known MCR releases, but by far one of the best, which is something that can be said about any one of the songs included on Conventional Weapons. If you haven’t taken the time to explore these 10 somewhat hidden tracks, do so immediately. You won’t regret it.

Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be listening to “AMBULANCE” on repeat for the rest of the day.

Featured image courtesy of Deviant Art.