Review Summary: Now come on, come all to this tragic affair- Tragic is defiantly not a word I would call this!
The Black Parade.
I must admit, I started listening to My Chemical Romance quite late, only picking up Danger Days back in 2010 with knowledge of only a few songs from the record, and barely any knowledge of their previous works before they turned punk. Now, I liked what Danger Days had to offer, even though Na Na Na got annoying after a few listens, so I decided to go back to the old My Chemical Romance, beginning with The Black Parade, the bands third studio album.
Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the main theme of the album is death after the album opens with The End and Dead! These two tracks may be two of the shortest on the album, but it gives us great music and catchy tunes that sets the album up to a really well done start.
As soon as Welcome to the Black Parade, the first single from the album kicks off, we know that from there and on it can only get better. Welcome to the Black Parade is probably one of the most important My Chemical Romance songs out there to date. The song focuses on the diagnosed cancer character “The Patient”, who remembers the time when his father took him to see a parade. Gerard stated in an interview that “I like to think that death comes for you however you want. So when death comes for the patient, it comes in the form of a black parade”. A striking song that will be most remembered when the album ends.
But Welcome to the Black Parade isn’t the only highlight of the album. Famous Last Words, the last single from the album, House of Wolves and Sleep are exceptionally great songs that over rule some of the more average songs like The Sharpest Lives and This Is How I Disappear. Each song is catchy and provides us with good ear candy in its own way, as Ray Toros guitars are fantastic and Bob Bryars drumming is also really good.
Teenagers is another single from the album, as Gerard described as “A commentary on kids being viewed as meat by the government and by society.” He also relates the song to the Black Parade by stating “I always viewed this as about those kids in the black parade who’d killed themselves, who had made a big mistake. It’s a very powerful song.” Powerful, yes. Catchy? Defiantly.
With Cancer and Disenchanted being sad, slow songs that slow the album down a touch, songs like Mama and Dead! provide us with some madness and choruses that sound more cheery than sad despite the depressing topics. Gerard and co. leave no room for disappointment on The Black Parade album, something that even surprised me, as I wasn’t entirely sure what to think when I bought the album.
Despite Danger Days being a good album, (even though some songs got old fast and others came across as irritating and disappointing), I think it’s fair to say that it was a mistake for MCR to stray far from their roots that made them original and great in the first place. The Black Parade will always be their best album, and looking ahead into the future, can they really pull of anything as good as this?
TOP 3
- Welcome to the Black Parade
- House of Wolves
- Famous Last Words
Although the albums done and finished, its memory will carry on.
