Rating: 5/10

Track Amount: 14

Running Time: 51 minutes and 57 seconds

Genre: Alternative/Emo

Personnel: Gerard Way (vocals), Frank Iero (guitars and vocals), Ray Toro (guitars, vocals and bass guitar), Mikey Way (bass guitar), Bob Bryar (drums and percussion)

Producer: Rob Cavallo & My Chemical Romance

Recording Location: El Dorado & Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA

Record Label: Reprise Records

Art Direction: Ellen Wakayama

Best Tracks: Teenagers

Quick Verdict: A good indication of why Rock Music was losing its popularity in the 2000s

Back in the 2000s, there was a reinvented trend from the Goth movement, dubbed Emo. This is the album that defined that brief movement in time. Notably, as well, this is a concept album which explored the suffering and pain that dying can bring, with reference to a dying man as the central character. Unfortunately, death is a human reality. Nonetheless, with all the issues internally that the band faced at the time, this album sold well and had a huge cultural impact from its release onwards. Therefore, this is an album that had a significant musical and cultural impact and was widely acknowledged as My Chemical Romance’s best effort overall. Therefore, this album needs to be covered here. Let’s go back to 2006 and take a listen to this album, and we shall hear if it is any good.

1. The End. launches this album with a heart monitor sounding, and launches into a good song about death itself. Nonetheless, from the start, this is powerful music that is impressive in its own way. It launches quickly into a piece that is not a million miles away from the sound of Pink Floyd’s The Wall album (1979). This music is not the most original-sounding out there. This is dramatism set to 21st century Rock/Metal Music. It finishes fairly quickly.

2. Dead! begins with guitars and a no heartbeat monitor sound, before launching into a good sounding tune at hand. This sounds fiery, passionate and pieces together the history of Rock Music throughout to that point. Nonetheless, this is certainly a good song to listen to. It has a unique flavour and character sonically, that, although sounds a bit too 2000s for its own good, is definitely worth hearing. There is a breakdown with a horn section, alongside some other interesting sounds present. Following it is a glorious multitracked guitar solo section that sounds really cool. A count-in occurs, and the tune launches into the joyous and soaring conclusion that is really fantastic. A nice tune, although this is somewhat dated-sounding in retrospect. Awesome. It finishes quickly after just over three minutes in length.

3. This Is How I Disappear begins with some hi-hats and launches into another melodic and moody song at hand. This sounds very good for its rather off vibes present. A really strong and interesting song at hand. It progresses into a pounding and fantastic song at hand, which is nicely layered but not necessarily in a Progressive Rock way. It just delivers what is needed. The performances throughout are very good and consistently full of melodies and pounding drums galore. The guitars in particular sound very original. Yes, this is Emo Music at hand, but it certainly sounds really impressive and uplifting, in its own way. The song has some interesting and powerful music moments throughout, complete with manic screaming and Black Sabbath-style riffs in the second half. This music flows naturally and nicely. This is not the greatest Rock album ever, which is clear by this point in time, but it does have an appeal for teenage millennials from this era who dug the Emo movement.

4. The Sharpest Lives begins with some tape edited looped guitars and some multitracked vocals that sound really cool. This is a tune that has some rather random lyrics at hand, but is matched by Pop/Punk and Metal guitars at hand. These songs are mostly consistently good, although they lack some magic. Having said that, this is a very enjoyable and wonderful tune at hand that is musically like a punch in the face. This sounds direct, aggressive and deeply emotional to listen to. Having said that, this is a little difficult to get into as such. It is definitely musically accomplished, all the same, even if it is a bit difficult to enjoy. A good song that is very moody and cathartic listening from start to finish. The harmonies at the end are different, and the outro is definitely weird.

5. Welcome To The Black Parade is the title track and is one of the most important and popular songs from the album. It begins with some sad and morbid piano playing and some rather depressing lyrical matter. This evolves into a piece with a long lyric story with marching band drums to match it. This is a touching and emotional song about growing up and sharing some of life’s responsibilities with others. The guitar playing is great. The screamed vocals absolutely ruin this song, which is not a good thing at hand. It seems Gerard Way, the singer, has some emotional issues. It quickly launches into a very blink-182 sounding song section that is very odd. In any case, this music wears out its welcome by this point. Without a doubt, this is good to hear, but it is definitely not great to hear. Imitating blink-182 is not very clever, and points out that My Chemical Romance had little to be inspired by. A good song, but far too long and miserable to be really appreciated throughout. This music returns to the marching band section at hand, which sounds ridiculously great. That is, until an awful key change enters towards the end. A poor and awful listen. This is not what one would look for in an album. A terrible listen throughout. It ends with sustained guitar parts and the marching drums to conclude. Morbid.

6. I Don’t Love You begins with some good guitar work in the left channel, just before the rest of the band kicks in nicely. This sounds like more of the same as before, sadly. This launches into a song about a breakup and despair in a relationship. It sounds like a bit of a drag throughout. This song sounds just the same as what came before it. This album definitely has its musical weaknesses throughout. This music is good, but it definitely lacks a certain sort of magic about it. It sounds way too 2000s contemporary in its stylings as well. It’s okay, but definitely not that inspired musically. The screaming is not that necessary, either. The guitar solo is quite good on this song, which is a welcome change. Towards the end is a nice mellow section with organ, before launching back into screaming and a largely forgettable band section.

7. House Of Wolves begins with some pick scraping on the guitar and pounding drums, before launching into another fairly blah song at hand. This music sounds stereotypical for its time. It sounds rather aggressive but melodic as well. Even so, for all its promise, this music lacks a certain sort of magic upon listening to it all. This music reeks of a pretentious attitude as well. Despite that, this music is good, although certainly not great to hear. A thrashy and powerful song that isn’t anything new at this stage. All in all, an interesting but not very good song at hand, which is certainly weird to listen to. This powers along with a spirit of mediocrity throughout. There is very little impressiveness from this song. It is over after three rather painful minutes of listening.

8. Cancer begins with some sweet and melodic piano playing that sounds quite nice. Some soft and smooth vocals go over the top of this, singing about some rather miserable topics at hand. Again, this is nothing special. This music lacks impressiveness and magic, although it is a good crack at Rock Music in the mid 2000s. The music and sounds throughout are nothing really special to listen to. With lyrics about people dying from cancer, this is genuinely awful to listen to. A terrible idea for a song, and something that you will want to skip ahead upon listening. Garbage. Fortunately, it is only two minutes or so long.

9. Mama begins with some electronic sounds that are quite random, followed by a section of guitar work at hand. This launches into a song that sounds really odd and weird, especially lyrically. This tune is ridiculously odd, and it launches into a loud and surging chorus that sounds quite good. The music and sounds are ridiculously cheesy here. It is difficult to hear why this music is at all popular; it sounds like Syd Barrett on meth. Nonetheless, this weird song does have some appeal, but it isn’t great to listen to. It just sounds out of place and odd here. A very ordinary-sounding song. It has some heavy guitar riffs in the second half, which are weird. A very average song which has too much production and not enough original inspiration about it all. A poor listen. It ends with a weird and mock village instrumental section. Definitely odd.

10. Sleep begins with some digitally modified voice samples, followed by piano playing. This isn’t really that good. Drums and guitars eventually kick in nicely, and this tune gets going nicely. It has some good music here, but by this point in the album, it is fairly underwhelming overall. This song is a moody, downbeat listen that isn’t the greatest thing ever made. A song about sleeping and dreams set to distorted guitars and drums? Okay. This song isn’t the best on the album, and the album itself by this point is a very underwhelming listen overall. The second half repeats the intro, with some ordinary progressions and sounds to match it all. All in all, this song is the nadir of this album, and it does not sound good or impressive. The screaming and crashing instrumentation in the second half are genuinely awful. A disastrous effort, to be fair. Just not good. Very unimpressive.

11. Teenagers begins with a good chord progression and set of vocals. This is a surprisingly consistent and upbeat tune at hand, about the things that drug-taking teenagers get up to. The chorus is catchy, although this song is fairly trashy at its core. Even so, this song is a good one. This is a good tune about the activities of the youth today, which sound extremely cool. There is a decent Rock Music guitar solo present, which sounds neat. The song is a sing-along tune at hand, with some interesting progressions and changes throughout. This song does not make up for the rest of the album, however.

12. Disenchanted begins with some sweet acoustic guitar playing that sounds really fresh. This is a lengthy tune with some pleasant singing at hand, although again, it really lacks magic about it all. Soon enough, electric guitars and drums enter, and this ballad comes to life. This is an okay song, but it lacks energy and inspiration throughout it all. Even so, this is not terrible, just uninspired sell out Rock Music for the 2000s, which is easily forgettable. This song is about the ordinary circumstances in which one grows up. This song moves along and takes what seems like forever to get through it all. Despite that, it is okay but not fantastic to hear. The moodiness and contemporary sounds from the era do not make this a winner to listen to. All in all, a fairly disappointing and horrid listen overall. There is nothing special about this music, and it is neither a fantastic nor awe-inspiring listening experience. You can likely skip this song and the rest of the album by this point in time. A drag to sit through, in all honesty. It is also far too long to listen to and enjoy. A poor quality effort overall. The outro is nice, though, with the acoustic guitar playing ongoing.

13. Famous Last Words begins with some good vocals and chugging guitars, sounding very Emo. This has some other moody instrumentation and screaming throughout. Some good guitars and pounding drums enter, and this ordinary tune launches into action. Again, this is neither memorable nor really listenable overall. This song is really a drag overall and is just blah to listen to. If you want decent Rock Music, then start by exploring other famous bands such as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, not this garbage. The song here leaves a bad taste in the mouth, particularly proving towards the end of the album that this is not a genuinely good effort to listen to. Its negativity and rather ordinary sounds really drag it down. Yes, Coldplay at this time were doing much better things musically than My Chemical Romance were. It goes back into the chugging section of guitars and vocals, with some awfully depressing lyrics to match. This is genuinely poor music. A terrible song, again about death, and something that sounds very uninspired. A really poor tune at hand. Very bad. A terrible song. The looped vocals at the end really are bad.

14. Blood – Hidden Track ends this stupid album with some silence to begin with. This sounds better than the actual music, believe it or not. This does go on for some time before a piano enters into a mockery of old military music at hand. A really poor tune about blood itself. Really, why is this here? An awful conclusion to a very average album. Not good enough, to be frank.

This album deserves very little praise for what it is overall. Instead of making a great record, My Chemical Romance helped nail the coffin shut on the mainstream popularity of Rock Music in the 21st century. Bigger, better and bolder albums have been made than this one. This also sounds like self-parody for a Rock band. No, don’t listen to this album, even if you like guitar based Rock Music, as you will be thoroughly disappointed by it all. If you want loud guitars, try Oasis’s debut album Definitely Maybe (1994) instead, and avoid My Chemical Romance at all costs.

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