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Author: My Chemical Romance
URL: www.mychemicalromance.com
Label: Reprise
14 Tracks 51:52
My Chemical Romance have
made a name for themselves in the college radio and punk rock crowds. Their
smash hit "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
achieved strong success
in the fall of 2004, and a nationwide tour opening for Green Day in 2005
helped to boost their fan base even more. However, no one could have foreseen
what My Chemical Romance were going to do next. On The Black Parade,
we are treated to a very powerful and at times disturbing rock opera, similar
in some ways to aforementioned Green Day's American Idiot.
The first four tracks on The Black Parade are very punk oriented songs in the vein of their previous work. However, track five "Welcome To the Black Parade" officially kicks off the rock opera. This was the first single released off this album, and it is a very powerful and memorable listen. The song begins with a single piano being played slowly, as we are told the start of the story, how a young man was asked by his father to be the "Savior of the broken/The beaten and the damned." This savior is the leader of "The black parade" a group of people who are determined to carry on despite their overwhelming odds.
However, after this young man decides to accept this assignment, he encounters many hardships and tragedy. First, his girlfriend breaks up with him in "I Don't Love You" a song that would make a good single. It calls to mind work by Jimmy Eat World. Unfortunately, the hardship doesn't stop there. He then finds out that his mother has cancer, and before she dies they have a falling out, and never get to resolve things ("Cancer," and "Mama")
Due to this tragedy the young man begins to struggle with daily activities and even his ability to sleep ("Sleep"). His overwhelming depression and self loathing leads him to think about taking all his anger out on his classmates at school, in one of the most disturbing songs on the album, "Teenagers" which features these lyrics:
The boys and girls in the clickHowever, he fortunately doesn't go through with shooting anyone. His anger and depression continue throughout high school and then after graduation he looks back on his life and realizes that he really wasted a lot of time his life and laments this fact in the very solid "Disenchanted" which is musically one of the best moments on the album.
The awful names that they stick
You're never gonna fit in much, kid
But if you're troubled and hurt
What you got under your shirt
Will make them pay for the things that they did
The concluding chapter to this saga is "Famous Last Words" in which the protagonist in this story finds love and chooses to let go of his difficult past:
I am not afraid to keep on livingThis album is very relevant to the world we live in today. As a Christian, I find an album like this to challenge me to keep my eyes open for people such as this stories protagonist. There are so many people who are hurting and angry and need to be shown the love of God. They need people who are going to show less judgment, and more compassion. That is our challenge as believers, and albums like these exist to give us just one example of the mind of a pain filled young person. This is an album that must be heard!
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiving
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
James Morovich
2/24/06
