My Chemical Romance
The Black Parade

THE REVIEW

I was torn about whether to write this review or not. There are already some exhaustive ones, but in the end, I decided to offer my point of view as well. Because what I'm about to review is an album difficult to understand and decipher.

"The Black Parade" was released almost 4 years ago, but I've only truly discovered it today. It is a very interesting album for several reasons.

First of all, it is a concept-album, meaning an album with a logical thread, a story, told through songs. Many of the greatest albums in the history of rock music are structured this way, just to name a few "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club" (the very first of its kind) and "The Wall", with which it shares the album title/main song title relationship (The Wall/Another brick in the wall and The Black Parade/Welcome to the black parade... curious, isn't it?).

Secondly, we have the music genre: emo for many, I fully dissociate myself. Many people who consider emo garbage (even the frontman Gerard Way thinks so!) surely know only two things about it: the band's name and the music videos. And of course, if you're named My Chemical Romance, you catch the public's eye with an album driven by the theme of death, your frontman has a highly emotionally engaging voice, and all your videos are theatrically very dark, then you can't complain. But, however, a couple of listens to avoid presumption would be necessary to judge... wouldn't it? To cut a long story short, it is a rock album, with many punk hues and some more alternative rock ideas, spiced up with a few hard rock riffs here and there and catchy choruses, bordering on pop. Probably their post-hardcore past has not favored their emancipation, in an era where the most edgy emo stems directly from post-hardcore and the most denigrated emo has very radio-friendly pop nuances.

Thirdly, the stage presence: Gerard and his companions, and from the videos it's overwhelmingly evident as I mentioned before, have a taste for theatricality that is very interesting to evaluate. Especially if the frontman has no issue quoting Freddy Mercury (the king of great theatricality) in his movements. Watch the video of Welcome to the black parade for further explanations. Oh yes, Freddy Mercury: another of the albums cited as an inspiration is none other than "A Night At The Opera" by the immortal Queen. The album that contains "Bohemian Rhapsody", which is also heavily referenced in (here we go again) "Welcome to the black parade": a song over 5 minutes long, starting acoustically with only the piano in accompaniment, and in which we see at least three style changes. Brazen, eh? Speaking of videos: the director of "Welcome to the black parade" (what a drag!!) and "Famous last words" is Samuel Bayer, director of "Smells like teen spirit" and the five videos of "American Idiot". Et voilà: critics have considered "The Black Parade" an album of generational impact like "Nevermind" and "American Idiot" were. History repeats...

Last reflection, the individual songs. A classic introduction for a concept album (The end, 1 minute and 52 seconds) and then the party starts: Dead!, which talks about death with a cheerful tone suspended between rock & roll and punk rock; This is how I disappear, heavier but slower than the previous one with the usual catchy chorus; The sharpest lives, the most pop of the group in structure; Welcome to the black parade (I’ve already bothered you enough, I’ll spare you that); I don't love you, a very intense ballad with a nod to pop while cradled on a bed of electric guitars; House of wolves, a true punk rock; Cancer, semi-acoustic with raw and heartbreaking lyrics; Mama, the most peculiar of the album (complete with an appearance by Liza Minelli!) but essentially rock; Sleep, an interesting semi-ballad always garnished with the inevitable guitar riffs; Teenagers, the most radio-friendly of all, supported by a catchy but already heard rhythm; Disenchanted, another ballad of good intensity and similar to I don't love you but with something less; Famous Last Words closes the set with almost 5 epic minutes that combine the catchy and intense rock of I don't love you and the climax of Welcome to the black parade, with lyrics difficult to interpret but with an undeniable charge of reaction, presenting themselves as the most successful piece alongside the just mentioned ballad and the title track. Speaking of honorable mentions, a nod also goes to Dead!.

While waiting for the new album, enjoy listening!