My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
Critic Score
Based on 19 reviews
2006 Ratings: #227 / 732
User Score
2006 Rank: #4All Time: #141
Liked by 1,545 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
musicOMH
This is an album which references music hall theatricality, marching band propaganda, religious pomp, punk energy and, perhaps more surprising than anything, an overarching sense of fun.
91
Entertainment Weekly

Pristinely produced by regular Green Day collaborator Rob Cavallo, this album is not just the band’s most adventurous but also its best. The Black Parade also strongly suggests that, like its protagonist, the ”old” My Chemical Romance has pretty much breathed its last.

90
AllMusic
Their strongest, most cohesive yet, even if it isn't quite as weird or compelling as it should be given the group's lofty ambitions.
90
NME
‘The Black Parade’ is an ostentatious concept-album-cum-rock-opera about death, and it’s about to turn the late MCR into the biggest band on the planet.
90
Sputnikmusic
Album of 2006 contender takes huge risks, brings together multiple forms of rock music and adds anthemic hooks to theatrical & experimental numbers which should see them attracting a newer audience, while still pleasing loyal fans.
90
Alternative Press

What’s really engaging is that The Black Parade is a concept album about death (physical, psychological, emotional; take your pick), yet even the most weepy sentiments are delivered with a swagger, a blistering guitar lead or a joyful, bouncy cadence.

80
SPIN

Instead of celebrating broken hearts, Way prefers theatrical open-heart surgery, stitching together the hyperactive unhappiness of his followers and, in the process, creating as much of a movement as possible in this boggy, bloggy musical moment.

80
Rolling Stone

The Black Parade, the New Jersey group’s third studio album, is the best mid-Seventies record of 2006, a rabid, ingenious paraphrasing of echoes and kitsch from rock’s golden age of bombast.

80
The Guardian

Not only have MCR never rocked harder, they've never sounded so mature, especially on the blood-and-tears ballad, I Don't Love You. The most bonkers album of the year, but one of the best.

80
Uncut

Always the square peg in emo’s round hole, the New Jersey band’s third set sees them break out of the subculture in spectacular style.

80
Gigwise

The Black Parade may have the skeleton of their previous offerings but it has been fleshed out with an added confidence and swagger that lifts it above its peers and rubber-stamps their status as the most awe-inspiring band of their genre.

67
A.V. Club

The style suits My Chemical Romance well. Its leap into Queen-style theatrics isn't much of a leap to begin with, as the band has always played style-conscious, highly dramatic music. Where other bands have deviated from punk into surprising new directions, The Black Parade sounds like the next logical step for My Chemical Romance.

60
Evening Standard
The theatrical silliness doesn't always work, but your kids could be listening to music much worse than this.
60
Q Magazine
Fans will be baffled, but this is magnificently deranged stuff.
60
NOW Magazine
They've succeeded at making a good big-dumb-rock record, but you get the sense they didn't mean for it to be quite this dumb.
60
Mojo
Despite its bleak outlook, this is a record big on nagging choruses and arm-punching emo punk that--more often than not--aims for the mainstream artery.
60
PopMatters
For all the urgency contained inside, it’s just too inconsistent for you to miss much if you decide not to check it out.
20
The Observer
New Jersey emo kings get ideas above their station.
BradTasteMusic
73

I’m catching up on my ARTV-core lol. But really my full 40 minute reaction and review is on my YouTube channel

This album is massive not only from a sonic standpoint but through phenomenal writing and songs that are passionate and bombastic beyond belief. This album is a phenomenal statement that shows that emo music can be done right and it isn’t always a pissing contest of who can be the most edgy

Edit (91 -> 88 -> 73): What made it stand out originally is that is was a ... read more

PipePanic
100

There are many albums that change people. Some point to "Dark Side Of The Moon" or "Thriller" or many other great records. But for me, it's MCR's crazy, explosive, off the wall and perfectly intense tale of woe and death that changed something. Maybe in me, maybe in the world, and possibly both.

Favorite Jams: Everything (Especially Mama, Sleep, This Is How I Disappear)

Lest Favorite: Disenchanted

BGL13
100

with 800 followers, i think it’s finally time to review the black parade. my favorite album of all time, the album that shaped me as a person, the album that helped me discover my love for music, the album that made me want to play guitar, and the album that got me through many hard times.

the first time i heard this album was on my tenth birthday. when i was 10, i pretty much only listened to whatever was on the radio and occasionally my dad’s old beastie boys cd. but i still ... read more

JohnRatesBadly
100

Well I like pop punk now 🖤

Koman67
95

it's good.

100

You know an album will be good when it opens with a David Bowie ripoff

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Track List

1The End.
1:52
92
2Dead!
3:15
94
3This Is How I Disappear
3:59
94
4The Sharpest Lives
3:20
92
5Welcome to the Black Parade
5:11
96
6I Don't Love You
3:58
92
7House of Wolves
3:04
92
8Cancer
2:22
92
9Mama
4:39
94
10Sleep
4:43
93
11Teenagers
2:41
89
12Disenchanted
4:55
89
13Famous Last Words
4:59
92
14Blood
2:53
Hidden Track
64
Total Length: 51 minutes

Year End Lists

#5/SPIN
#10/NME
#20/Rolling Stone
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Added on: January 31, 2013