The Black Parade

Listening to My Chemical Romance's album The Black Parade is a little like stepping into a time machine and going back to the 70s. A "concept" album largely about death, the band (from Kearny, New Jersey, a city I once called home) lists its influences as Queen and Pink Floyd, and that can certainly be heard. The band that I thought of most, though, was Styx.

The songs frequently have multi-layered, chorale-like vocals, snarling guitars, and build to an operatic fever. The thread running through them is a patient who is dying of cancer, and I suppose he is looking back at his life (a lot of this information comes from outside sources, as specifics are not readily apparent to me upon listening, and the type on the lyrics sheet is so small only an eagle would be able to read it clearly). The target demographic must be teenagers who morbidly brood in their darkened rooms, wearing black and hating everyone.

Each time I have listened to the album I like it when it starts out, but by the end I feel bludgeoned. There's not much variation to the music, and let's face it, it's not a pleasant subject. There are two stand-out numbers, both of which hit go full tilt, "Bohemian Rhapsody"-style excess. "Welcome to the Black Parade," about a boy who is taken to watch a parade by his father, who then asks him if he will be a savior. Then there's "Mama," which sounds like an old Eastern European folk tune, and chants, "Mama, we're all going to hell," and includes a guest vocal by Liza Minelli. Now, you can't beat that.

Clearly the band had fun with the whole concept. They appear in pictures in spectral drum major outfits, and the whole packaging reeks of Halloween. Perhaps I'll give it a spin again some time when I'm feeling suicidal.