My Chemical Romance
The Black Parade

THE REVIEW

The third album by My Chemical Romance, probably the most famous internet band (the career of this group was practically launched by a cult following formed through newsgroups and peer-to-peer) is fundamentally a concept album about death and particularly about the story of a young boy who dies... all very emo obviously, but the impression I got from listening was that this band aimed to create an eclectic album, changing atmosphere and style from one track to the next, much in the manner of a rock opera in pure 70's style.

It reminded me a bit of the approach of the Clash in "London Calling", which is that of a punk band doing punk without typically sounding punk: in the same way, I seemed to understand that MCR wanted to do emo without typically sounding emo... indeed, the names dropped in the promotional interviews (Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, Smashing Pumpkins, Smiths) are quite different from those you might expect for a group whose offering has often been excessively "filtered" by channels dedicated to teenagers.

Already the single "Welcome To The Black Parade" (practically a personal “Bohemian Rhapsody”) had redeemed me from the doubt of having characterized, somewhat obtusely I admit, MCR as a kind of boy band for "alternative" girls: but not at all, these guys know how to compose and play excellently, frontman Gerard Way has a personality and interpretative ability that even makes one think of the early Freddie Mercury, and there are the bases for this band to become a generational phenomenon, a commendable result in these “depersonalizing” times.

The truth is that My Chemical Romance has a great chance with this new album: to sign their name to the definitive album of the entire emo generation growing in these years and to represent for many kids what the albums of the Beatles, or the Sex Pistols, represented for the youth of past generations.

I am not ashamed to state that I like and am convinced by this "turn", you can see they are "trying" and I love this kind of courage.... I like the idea of a "Sgt. Pepper's" to deliver to the young audience: I mean, they are today's kids, why demonize them?
They appeal to the girls, so what? Even Bowie in '72 was liked by the girls, indeed his audience at the time was predominantly that target: moreover, it comforts me to know that I am not alone in thinking this way, given that NME awarded this album an honorable 9/10, defining MCR as “the greatest band in the world” and Rolling Stone (not the bible, but so be it...) has compared this work to generational potential albums like "Nevermind" and "American Idiot".

In any case, I think I've understood that the theme of this album is the story of a terminal cancer patient who relives his life in his mind, also through hallucinations, intertwining his memories with a series of visions set in an undefined dimension whose recurring theme is precisely this "Black Parade", which is an unconscious transposition of a childhood memory.
The main inspiration for this concept is undoubtedly the novel "Marabou Stork Nightmares" by Irvine Welsh (among other things the very title of another Welsh novel, "Three Tales Of Chemical Romance", inspired the band's name itself), and Way's very haircut, now blonde and short, seems to have been done precisely to enter into the theme of the story, alluding to the chemo sessions of the protagonist... very theatrical, possibly pretentious, but didn't Peter Gabriel do these things 30 years ago (and indeed he was massacred by the critics)?

The album is halfway between being an explosive emo concentrate (with Way's stunning vocal and interpretative performances) and a tribute, with quotes or evocations, to the albums that have marked rock history: thus the initial, dramatic "The End" recalls Bowie's "Five Years" (not coincidentally the provisional title of the album was "The Rise And Fall Of My Chemical Romance"), "Dead!" is a guitar-driven version of '90s britpop, "Mama" is a vaudeville with strong glam tints (complete with a surreal duet with Liza Minelli!), "Teenagers" sounds like one of the "carefree" Roxy Music numbers while, as in every "classic" rock album worth its salt, there are some ballads destined to be memorized by fans, like "Disenchanted", "I Don 't Love You", and ESPECIALLY "Cancer", one of the most touching songs I've ever heard, with lyrics analyzing nakedly and bluntly the agony of a terminal cancer patient: the piece goes straight to the listener's face, and honestly, I don't remember having ever heard a track describing such a difficult theme with such disarming simplicity... I'm not ashamed to say I cried listening to it, and I think it's impossible to remain indifferent to it.

In short, there's everything: "The Black Parade" is a great album, and it has very little to do with the image that, erroneously, was assigned to this band: I'm sure many, if they listen to it, could lose all the prejudices of which I've been a victim too.

I'm not trying to convince anyone, but break free from any kind of mental frameworks and give My Chemical Romance a chance... it's not certain if they will leave their name in the rock imagination, but they are trying, and they really "risk" succeeding greatly.