 | Tracklist:
1.The End
2.Dead!
3.This Is How I Disappear
4.The Sharpest Lives
5.Welcome To The Black Parade
6.I Don't Love You
7.House of Wolves
8.Cancer
9.Mama
10.Sleep
11.Teenagers
12.Disenchanted
13.Famous Last Words
14.Blood [Hidden Track]
Release Date: 2006 | |
| | other reviews | David James Young (5)
Alleged emo kids take to the stadiums on third and best record.... | altairschaos56 (5)
Overall: The Black Parade is a rollercoaster from beginning to end. Starting with "The End." and con... | HoodedSword (4.5)
It’s not the best album ever, but in my opinion it’s one of the best rock albums made in the las... | Porter W. Richards (4.5)
If you can get past the ugly cliches about My Chemical Romance, you'll find a maginificent concept a... | Davey Boy STAFF (4.5)
Album of 2006 contender takes huge risks, brings together multiple forms of rock music and adds anth... | ryanson209 (4)
My Chemical Romance's third studio album is a mixture of a new sound, a dark story, and -- oddly en... | crystalinedemise (4)
This album is an incredibly solid effort with very few pitfalls, and perhaps it will be acknowledged... | cjwbball51 (4)
Everyone changes.... | Pedro B. (4)
After the album finishes, we are left feeling satisfied. We have the notion that we have just listen... | John A. Hanson STAFF (3)
"The Black Parade" is My Chemical Romance's magnum opus, epic and spectacular; it would be a mammoth... | Richard Craig (3)
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On 38 Lists
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| Summary: My Chemical Romance take a giant step forward in musicianship but forget to bring with them everything that made them worth listening to in the first place. |
2 of 2 thought this review was well written
Every once in a while I come across an album that I just have trouble solidifying my opinion about. I can listen to it once and think "wow, that's amazing" then put it in again 3 days later and think just the opposite. When I first listened to the Black Parade, which everyone knows by now as My Chemical Romance's groundbreaking third album, I was awestruck, quite frankly. MCR had obviously been working on their guitar playing and songwriting skills, and the Queen rip-off, while quite obvious, was nonetheless beautifully executed.
Then after the fifth time the Black Parade had finished revolving in my CD player, that feeling of impressed jubiliation I had experienced the first time had completely worn off. What happened? Did someone hack into my disc and remove the sounds that had so enthralled me the first time?
The answer didn't come to me until I re-listened to MCR's sophomore effort, "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge". I had always found it an enjoyable album, despite being horrendously overrated by all the kids at the mall wearing MCR shirts and pretending like they were emo. But I realized that somewhere between "Three Cheers" and "Black Parade", My Chemical Romance had lost something.
The pomp grandeur of "The Black Parade" is immediately apparent as the acoustic and piano-led intro (ironically titled "The End") erupts into "Dead!", perhaps MCR's most pretentious showing of their change on the the album. Frank shows off his guitar chops in more than one solo that makes MCR's peers in the "dark pop" scene hang their heads in shame. This trend is continued in the title track, which some have labeled "the next Bohemian Rhapsody".
MCR make quick acknowledgements to their old sound with the anthemic "This is How I Disappear" and, to a lesser degree, "House of Wolves". "Teenagers", perhaps the best song on the album, brings Lynard Skynard to mind (at least IMHO) with it's catchy guitar riffing and Gerard Way's signature voice bellowing out the chorus:
They say that teenagers scare
The living sh*t out of me.
They could care less
As long as somebody bleeds.
So darken your clothes
Or strike a violent pose.
Maybe they'll leave you alone
But not me.
Although these lyrics may seem like a paradox coming from MCR, it shows the band trying very hard to step outside their box and bring something new to the table.
And herein lies the problem for My Chemical Romance. For in trying to make a new sound for themselves, they essential re-hash something we've already heard before. How many people have tried to copy Queen and Pink Floyd over the years? The second problem with the band's newfound vibe is that in trying to sound fresh and new, they ditched the sound that got fans hooked in the first place: raw, violent pop-rock with sprinklings of what some liked to call punk and hardcore. The sounds of "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us in Prison" are nowhere to be heard on "The Black Parade". Gerard Way's voice has become unbearably dull and hardly sounds like the voice that influenced so many (including myself) to purchase "Three Cheers". My Chemical Romance was never one-of-a-kind by any stretch of the imagination. But at least they were unique enough to keep me coming back to them, albeit after long breaks.
Is "The Black Parade" still worth hearing? Certainly, provided you don't mind the rip-offs and the lack of re-listening value. But it's not the glittering work of genius the media has made it out to be. And it's certainly not My Chemical Romance like we know them.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 3
I realize this really didn't need another review, but I had a somewhat different perspective on it I think. Plus it was quite self-gratifying, which is the only reason I write reviews in the first place. :-P
Digging: Maths - Descent | | | Album Rating: 4.5
The black parade is actually something I enjoyed the most on the third time around, however after you listen to anything enough times, it will die fade out. I really enjoyed this review though, great job
| | | Album Rating: 3
Yes, but some things take longer than others to fade out. I've been listening to Blackwater Park by Opeth repeatedly for the past month and it's still just as spectacular. This died about the 5th time, like I stated in my review.
But thank you. Feedback is appreciated. :-)
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
I can only stand maybe 4 songs on here. I really like Famouse Last Words for some
reason though.This Message Edited On 06.06.07
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Maybe because its an excellent tune?
Digging: Animal Collective - Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished | | | Album Rating: 1.5
guess so
| | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
album still rules
Digging: Converge - Axe To Fall | | |
Yep, but it loses its luster. The best songs are still awesome.This Message Edited On 06.06.07
Digging: Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind
| | | Album Rating: 3 | Sound Off
This album is my least favorite of the three. Still has it's moments tho.
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How to MCR albums continuously garn explicit tags with only one maybe at th emost 2 swears and/or violent referances? I think I smell a marketing sceme....
| | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
um saying fuck a few times gets you an R rating in the movies dude
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
They said s*** enough to get the rating on Teenagers.This Message Edited On 06.06.07
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Too many songs suffer from two minutes too long syndrome.
Digging: Electric Wizard - Dopethrone | | | Album Rating: 3 | Sound Off
They said s*** enough to get the rating on Teenagers. they say all teenagers scare the living shit out of me...
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
^^ exactly
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My bro has the album, but I haven't listened to nearly all of it. It's a lot better than their other stuff, but can drag at points.
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mcr annoys me, but what is worse is the fangirls
Digging: Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
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This is actually not a terrible album, unlike their others. Haven't listened to it enough to rate it, but it would probably be 2.5-3.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
This is a great album by mst standards.
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