CD Review: My Chemical Romance-The Black Parade
My Chemical Romance has released two very distinctly different, yet equally amazing cds in their history. I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love was raw like an exposed nerve, and heavily steeped in fantasy. It’s follow-up, the smash hit Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge was full of catchy sing-a-longs that showed a more polished band that remained fascinated with death. Both spectacular in their own ways, yet quite different. Still, they were unmistaken MCR albums. Given this history, it’s a surprise that so many people weren’t expecting another evolution for the band with it’s new album The Black Parade. Of course they were going to change, the question is, will it maintain the level of quality fans have come to expect?
I’m happy to say that not only do they live up to their past but at times they even surpass it. Unlike every other successful band of the last few years, MCR is not content with simply remaking their previous hit record. They are aware of the changing tide of music and while other bands are left confused as to why an exact replica of their previous cd is not being embraced by fans, MCR blazes a new path of bitterness and despair with what is purported to be a concept album about a cancer patient. Here’s a track by track review of The Black Parade.
"The End"- is essentially an intro to the concept of the cd, and it works. You can immediately tell that the band has grown, changed, and along the way have listened to some Pink Floyd. Plus, it has one of the best lines vocalist Gerard way has ever written, and its bound to end up as thousands of Myspace screen names in the near future.
"Dead"- shows that the band hasn’t completely abandons what made them special. They still sound like My Chemical Romance, so put your fears to rest, they may have been inspired by Queen and Pink Floyd on this album, but they didn’t lose themselves along the way. This would actually fit in nicely on 3 Cheers.
"This Is How I Disappear"- It settles in at this point that this album is truly a follow-up to the song “Helena” from 3 Cheers. Whereas that song was written about the death of Gerard and Mikey’s grandmother Elena Lee Rush, this entire album is about loss, with cancer as it’s central theme. This doesn’t feel like fiction, it feels like a band pouring their hearts out. It just took them a few years to figure out how to express it.
"The Sharpest Lives"- seems to be about Gerard’s bouts with alcohol abuse. Again, it would fit right in with Three Cheers, but it’s perhaps a bit broader in scope.
"Welcome To The Black Parade" has caught quite a bit of flack from fans for being “too epic”, for ditching the trappings of the dying emo trend, but to me that’s the point. This band is too good to fall out with the rest of the boys when this trend dies in the near future. They will carry on.
"I Don’t Love You Like I Did Yesterday"- seems to break away from the concept, but it’s worth it. A perfect example of the bands transcendence into becoming a true Rock band. Again, it sounds like MCR, but on a grander scale..
"House Of Wolves"- is another one for the old school fans. I’ll add that though I love the bands earlier work, there were always a few songs on each cd that didn’t match up to the rest. This time all of the “signature” style songs are great, perhaps a little less catchy, but generally better written and performed.
"Cancer"- is beautiful. You know it hurt to write this song.
"Mama"- features guest vocals b Liza Minnelli, who I understand was Elena’s favorite singer. This is NOT a song about the power of positive thinking, let me tell you that! There’s a fitting vaudeville type feel to the song, and in fact, much of the album. Broadway musicals seem to be a big influence as well on the album, and somehow mixing that, 70’s classic rock, and modern day MCR works amazingly well.
"Sleep"- is one of the biggest departures for the band. Instead of being a straight-up rocker, it crescendos like a Queen song.. This album is of course a compliment to 70’s rock pioneers like Queen or Pink Floyd, but again, they never bow down before the masters. Instead the step up to the plate and become masters themselves.
"Teenagers" is an anthem for today’s youth. It’s full out, fist in the air arena rock, complete with a bluesy hard rock style guitar solo. I like it! This song is fun in the same way that “Headfirst For Halos” from I Brought you My Bullets… was. Lyrically, it’s rather dark and disturbing, but it’s so upbeat musically that you don’t focus on the darkness. In fact, the most disturbing (and possibly controversial) line in the song made me laugh out loud. Gerard has always been good with delivering difficult subjects and imagery in a fun and uplifting way, and this is a fine example of that. It's also very reminiscent of T-Rex, furthering the 70's connection of the disc.
"Disenchanted"- pretty much gives up all hope that this will end happily. One of the strengths of this album that many casual listeners wont grasp is that this is really an ALBUM, not just a collection of songs. That concept has been forgotten for a long time, and its so good to see a band bring that back. This cd is meant to be listened to all the way through, not just for you to download the singles and put your Ipod on shuffle. Though you could enjoy any of these songs on their own, listened to as a whole gives a much bigger impact than most albums of the past several years.
"Famous Last Words"- As dark as this album is, and its pretty bleak, somehow the band manages to put an uplifting spin on things. Again, after feeling the sadness and despair of this album, this song comes off as downright majestic.
Unlisted Track- I’m assuming this song is called "Blood", but that’s just a guess. This is a brief little number that fully embraces the vaudeville influence that I mentioned earlier, though lyrically it remains signature MCR. It’s a fitting end to an album that is stylistically all over the map, but somehow makes it all fit together.
The bottom line is this, closed-minded fans who don’t think the band should ever change, yet if they didn’t would stop liking the band anyway when the emo trend dies (check your watches) might be a little taken aback by this cd. If you recall though, songs such as "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison" did experiment a little with this sort of thing, so there was always a slight vaudeville aspect to the band. The classic rock elements simply show a more mature band, who have all taken a huge leap in talent since the last cd. My only real complaints about the cd are more with marketing than the actual music. This cd is being promoted as a concept cd yet the story seems to go back and forth between a few topics, and without exposition it almost comes off as a theme album, much like 3 Cheers. I also can’t quite figure out why the band has adopted the alter ego of a band called The Black Parade. This is an album to be proud of, and an album that will stand the test of time. For those of you who don’t quite “get it”, give this album a chance. Yes, they have shed the last shreds of emo from their sound. Yes, they have changed. And yes, this is a brilliant album that deserves to be in your collection.