My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
Gerard Way - Vocals
Frank Iero - Guitar
Ray Toro - Guitar
Mikey Way - Bass
Bob Briar - Drums
Track Listing:
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]
Not content with already having produced one concept album ("Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge", released 2004), the New Jersey rockers have produced another - with a difference!
'The Black Parade' is based around the idea that, when you die, death comes to you in the form of one of your most fondest memories. In this case, the subject of the album, named 'The Patient', is suffering from cancer, and death comes for him in the form of a parade he can remember going to see as a child.
In creating the album, the band felt that to be successful in their task, so to speak, they needed to become a whole new band. And this they did.
'The Black Parade' is as much about following the Patient through his last days, as it is with My Chemical Romance defining their musical direction, and moving forwards with their work.
To show the extremes of which the band would go to move their image, [Gerard] Way even cut his hair short and dyed it blonde to try and connect closer with the Patient. This sparked outrage amongst some of the band's female fans, who demanded that Way restore his hair to its former 'glory'. Kerrang played up to this reaction, going as far as to base one of its 'Pandora' comics on the hype surrounding the whole issue.
But I'm not here to go into all that sort of gossip, if that's what you're after, try taking a look at some of the articles run by the Sun newspaper over the last week or so. The question I'm really here to answer is - is the album any good?
My Chem have managed to throw off the "emo" tag foisted on them by journalists eager to rank them alongside the likes of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional.
The album opens up with "Come one come all / To this tragic affair / Wipe off that makeup"and makes us aware that we are in for quite a ride throughout the tracklist.
We aren't given even a minute of playtime before we're launched into some riffs that sounds almost as though they could have Brian May in the studio with them.
'Dead!' provides quite a bizaare experience when you combine the downtrodden lyrics, with a melody that would quite happily have you up and dancing no matter where you are. The guitar work of 'This Is How I Disappear' takes a downtuned turn towards the end, followed swiftly by the hard-hitting 'The Sharpest Lives'.
When the album was released, the band has said it was an album to be listened to right through from front to back. And they're quite right, skipping from track to track would detract from the "rock-operatic" (as it has been described by some) feel to the album.
'Welcome to the Black Parade' was the first track to be performed by the Black Parade, at the Hammersmith show. Listening to a studio recorded version of the song can only lead me to wonder how magnificent this song must sound live. I think it's quite safe to say this track is easily the masterpiece of the album.
Liza Minnelli provides guest vocals for the rather morbid 'Mama', as the Patient sings through his regrets. Way's voice gives the song a haunting edge, although at times it seems his voice has taken on a slight tinge of Freddie Mercury, and at others, Jack White.
My personal favourite so far, however, would have to be 'Teenagers'. Written by Way, after riding the train to practise and watching a group of teens, feeling rather distanced from the people listening to the music. The lyrics are open to personal interpretation, and could strike a chord with some people.
'Blood', the hidden track on the album, sounds rough around the edges. It's incredibly tongue in cheek ("Give them blood, blood / Gallons of the stuff / Give them all that they can drink / And it will never be enough"), and sounds like it's been taken from a Broadway musical. The theme doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the album, unless you consider it from the perspective of the Patient having to go through endless blood tests, but is an amusing snippet to end the album on.
That's about all I can say really. I enjoyed the time I spent with this album, and was surprised to see just how many hours had passed by the time I'd hit 'stop'.
