My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade

Everyone has to listen to this album. It’s like a fish out of water, but in a very good way. With a Mick-Jagger-ish Gerard Way on vocals accompanied by Mikey Way on bass, Bob Bryar on drums, Frank Lero on rhythm guitar and Ray Toro on the lead guitar.

From start to finish this album does not fail to impress. It just blows you away. The album starts with ‘The End‘ – a short, but brilliant song, very different from what we normally hear today on the radio – good different. But the song that stands out the most, that everyone needs to have, is ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’. It’s the first single that the band has officially released from their album and it’s kick-ass. It’s so unique, and it’s build up is just fantastic. Personally, I love the intro which is a soft build up, ultimately leading to a bigger bang (no pun intended). It’s so beautifully composed, combining heavy rock, choir-like vocals, hair-standing acoustics, voice effects (not the lame-Cher-type ones, but those that actually sound classy), guitar solos, good lyrics, effective breaks, sudden and good-surprising riff changes and an overall excellent arrangement of everything. I can’t stop listening to it. Get it! NOW!

The beauty of this album is that My Chemical Romance have dared to be different. They have chucked the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus formula and mounted on to a more anticipating approach to arranging music. They have combined different aspects, and experimented with a lot of different effects and combinations. They have emerged from among the ordinary, with something unique, just like Queen did when they took the world by storm with their mega-hit ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, while everyone else seemed addicted to basic hard-core rock. Almost all songs on the album are worth a mention. ‘Cancer’, ‘Mama’, ‘Sleep’ and ‘The Sharpest Lives’ are all part of my ‘listen-to-me-more-than-once’ group.

This album is My Chemical Romance’s third album. The first two were moderate hits. A song to listen to from their older album is ‘Helena‘ – their biggest hit before ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’. Anyway I am majorly in love with this album, and especially with that hell of a song. If you don’t like it the first time, hear it again, give it some time – it’ll grow on you, even though it’s not a grows-on-song. It’s just mind-blowingly brilliant.

Final Verdict: 9/10
It’s an absolutely, brilliantly fantastic album, which is a must have for any rocker, or any person who likes the ‘rock’ genre of music. Enjoy it’s uniqueness, and drift away into oblivion…

P.S. The last track is well, a ‘hidden track’. It’s really short and they have really messed around with it. They have given it a ’40s feel to it. It’s pretty cool – again brilliant. It’s quite funny too. Have a listen… (hope I haven’t over-praised the album – but hey, I am really enjoying it)