REVISED: Walking in the Black Parade

Where do I even begin writing this? It’s so hard to not make a joke about how I’m covering My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade. When I think of them I have terrible, terrible flashbacks to those girls in middle school that painted their nails back, wore band t shirts, and had those god awful bangs. I get chills just thinking about that now, ah god bless us all during that time period. But when I get past that I think about a deep sense of depression. Their albums are so dark and twisty. I mean you have Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge which is about a heartbroken vampire making a deal with the devil to try and get his love back (spoiler: it doesn’t work, tears). My Chemical Romance’s thing is having alternative strumming in the instrumentation. You keep going back and forth between each set of chords. When you are mad the songs are perfect to listen to because they sound just like how you are feeling. Then they pair this with lyrics that lash out at the world and the situations that they are surrounded in. They make their music relatable. The way that they are able to convey exactly how you are feeling is the reason that all of their albums went platinum including 2006’s The Black Parade (my personal favorite). In typical My Chemical Romance fashion it’s a huge story. I know, I know this is the second concept metaphor album I’ve done. What can I say? I’m a sucker for albums that tell stories. The Black Parade covers death and everything that relates to dying. It chronicles a young boy going through the process of dying from cancer. From this album you get to experience what it would feel like if you were going to die. It depressing but defiantly eye opening.

The main thing that sets this album apart from others is the sound. Imagine if you took a punk band and then made them do a whole bunch of covers from popular seventies bands. Probably would sound like a hot mess, or at least I would expect it too. But I can’t help of think of Queen and Journey when I listen to The Black Parade. The album still feels like a My Chemical Romance album yet it just doesn’t seem very original. The whole vibe of “Bohemian Rhapsody” with the combined yelling/pleading and then bright guitars and drums is scattered throughout the album (especially in the song “Mama”). They also take from the melody repetition that is a staple of Queen albums. This can be seen in “The End”.  I give them props for at least ripping off good bands.

So instead of the normal here is my top 3 songs from the album, I want to go through every track and say a few words. I’m bored writing those types of pieces and I’m sure that everyone is tired of reading them. Plus, you kind of lose the story of a metaphor album if you don't go through a track by track.

1. “The End.”:

First thought that comes to mind is how ironic that they named the first song of the album “The End.”. It’s punny and I appreciate their cleverness. They set the beat through a heartbeat monitor, it makes you feel like the end is near. A swaying guitar comes in with soft vocals, he is just gently singing. But then it builds up to anger and yelling. The building comes is paired with him talking about how him dying and how he would expect his family to react. Of course the yelling is appropriate and a nice touch. Who wouldn’t be pissed that they were dying. The lyrics die and all that is left is a memorizing guitar and piano (with no lyrics). It sounds just like something off of a Queen album. The alternating of pace and instruments is a staple of sound of Queen's. That switching between acoustic and electric guitars shows the cycle of what people go through when they are dying: going from I’m okay with dying to NAH IM NOT READY.

2.  “Dead!”

Oh no, this song starts with the baseline heartbeat sound of someone that has died. Our old friend from “The End!” bit the dust. The best part of this song is the epic guitar rifts that they throw in it. The song would be so much better if the vocals weren’t there. I just want to focus more on the guitar pieces. There is a funny part where he talks really weird. But other than that Gerald Way sounds way too whiny: more accurately hollow.

3.  “This is How I Disappear”

This song just sounds like the type of music that would be playing if you were going to get revenge on someone. You have the drums beating so fast and quick, and the guitar strumming in alternative pitches. Yes, there is a lot going on but it’s awesome. "This is How I Disappear" is preaching about how our friend lost the love of his life, so it’s like he is dealing with the heartache of being forever alone. He's pissed, no one wants to be alone forever. 

4. “The Sharpest Lives”

The background sound of this entire song is a techno rapid heart beat. HOW FITITNG. But really it is though. Then you have Gerald Way growling at you, which if you are into that…… to me I’m not fan. It’s just a little too odd for me. I just imagine him snarling at me for the entire thing.

5. “Welcome to Black Parade”

Love, love, love this song. The piano in the beginning that slowly adds instruments makes me happy. You can hear the lyrics which are beautiful and talking about how we should stand up for the people that can’t stand up for themselves. How valiant. There are even little wind chimes in the background. Everything just escalades to a fun song filled with light, quick strumming, and a catchy chorus. There are pauses when it is just the strumming which sounds like a marching band that is going really fast. But more than that our friend is reflecting back on his life’s most memorable experience, saying that even though his life is over the memories will carry on. Gosh darn you My Chemical Romance for making me slightly depressed when I am just trying to jam out.

6.”I Don’t Love You”

The beginning of this song sounds like something right out of a Nicholas Spark’s movie. Not kidding, it’s such a high pitch. I was confused at first whether it was a guitar or not. He sings ballads and it’s good. Gerald should really do it more. There is also a nice little guitar solo with a rhythm that doesn’t make you feel like you are riding a high speed roller coaster like normal punk songs. It works because he is talking about love and I’m a girl so I adore love songs. It’s cheesy and girly and perfect. I would more expect this song from One Direction but I like them too so it works for me. If you don’t like those kind of songs, then steer clear. This song is again devoted to our friend's love. He is trying to convince himself that he never loved her. 

7. “House of Wolves”

Scary techno in the beginning (eeeeeep) with guitars. But it goes away and is just typical My Chemical Romance. It is typical in the way that there is a ton of alternative guitar strumming with a catchy chorus. There isn’t anything in this song that sets it apart.

8. “Cancer”

Another piano beginning and hushed voices. It’s acoustic and beautiful. If you can’t tell I’m a sucker for acoustic songs. The lyrics go through as if our friend was watching his own funeral. He is talking about what colors he is wearing and how they are going to put him in the ground. It’s so sad, and he even calls himself “soggy” from the chemo. It’s blunt and doesn’t glamorize death unlike some songs I’ve heard. He says that the hardest part of dying is leaving his love. Awh too sweet yet too sad.

9.  “Mama”

The song starts off by switching between two chords and that’s it. But then things heat up because our friend has landed a place in hell. The guitar amps up and the vocals do too. But nothing is super quick like expected in a punk album. The whole song goes on between the amped guitar and the strumming. But weirdly enough in the strumming parts he goes on to talk about how his mother is dying….. Again I felt uncomfortable. Nooooo not Traci (my mom). The sonic elements sound like Queen going from electric guitar to acoustic guitar. But the lyrics just aren't cutting it for me.

10. Sleep

 We have a broken up radio and piano (YEET).  The guitar comes in and it just sounds sad. It sounds like there was an effect put on it that made it be different from every other song on the album. This put with the piano makes me think the apocalypse is coming, everyone run. It’s a medium pace which is so nice with a voice that sounds like he has resigned, bleating out his last words. 

11.   “Teenagers”

Okay first off I have loved this song since I was 15. I like it all and it is by far my favorite on the album. It so accurately depicts what is it like being a teenager and is how I felt 90% of the time at high school. If you didn’t know I hated high school, and Gerald’s voice is just so “fuck all of you” and that is so perfect. The guitar is definitely the main instrument and you get a killer bit in the middle of the song that makes you just want to jump up and down. There is also a little noise maker that adds a little spice to it. It talks about how our friend (yup I'm just going to refer to him as that) wishes he would have not cared about what people thought of him.

12.   “Disenchanted”

My true love, acoustic guitar makes an entrance here. It’s kind of a lullaby and our friend has finally accepted what has happened, has happened. Then the electric guitar steals the spotlight. Don’t worry my love gets it back. There is also a nice little background singer which is nice but kind of sounds like a quartet. He talks about all of our friend’s regrets in his life.

Let's just talk about how depressing this album is. I mean a whole album just devoted to exploring death and all that comes with it. You have a teenage boy who fights and dies to cancer chronicling his life. There is death but then it stems into whole other things like how to prepare to die, what happens to your body, will you have regrets, how will your family react. The process of dying is complicated and messy; but here in The Black Parade My Chemical Romance is exploring what it feels like to die without ever experiencing it. The album digs into deep topics and makes you ask questions about yourself. Questions that make you wonder about how you would react if you were told you had cancer. So yes, while I may laugh at myself for writing about My Chemical Romance (since they are so out of my realm) it doesn't mean that this album has any less merit.