The Black Parade

Untitled

The Black Parade is the third studio release by New Jersey-based rock group, My Chemical Romance, currently set for an International release date of October 23, 2006 and a October 24, 2006 United States release.

Release information

The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance was originally thought to be the official title, but was later confirmed as the working title by Gerard Way, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance, in a July interview with Kerrang! magazine, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke." In late August 2006, the actual title was revealed. According to singer Gerard Way, the album will contain "some really dark stuff and some touches of Queen and The Doors. And there's some really experimental parts that sound a bit like System Of A Down. But all of that is mixed with a big shot of My Chemical Romance."

Way has also said that the album "is way more dramatic, way more theatrical, completely over the top, borderline psychotic. It's the most pure, intense thing we've ever been involved in. We just didn't mess around at all. To be honest with you, it felt like we did at the beginning when we did [our first record], that's the kind of intensity that we got."

It is their third studio release, as Life on the Murder Scene is a live album. The new album is being produced by Rob Cavallo, who has produced every Green Day album since 1994 except for "Warning:".

The band had been very secretive about the new album since entering the studio. They have played very few shows, and ended up canceling several concerts in July and August (due to injuries sustained during the filming of their single). However, some fans have started hearing of "The Black Parade". A page on the Warner Reprise site and a Myspace profile were launched under this name, as many fans began to speculate what "The Black Parade" is. Speculation suggested that "The Black Parade" would be the name of the new album, but Gerard Way refused to confirm this, saying in an interview with Kerrang! magazine that the title was "super-secret."

The first single from the album, "Welcome to the Black Parade", hit the radio on September 11. The video for the single was directed by Samuel Bayer. They filmed two videos in two days. Gerard suffered injuries during the filming for the "Welcome to the Black Parade" video while Bob received injuries during the filming of a yet un-named video. Bob received burns up his left leg due to an accident with the pyro-technics, and Gerard tore the ligaments in his foot after guitarist Frank Iero decided to crash tackle him. The "Welcome to the Black Parade" single can be heard on their myspace page.[1]

The band's physical appearance has also changed. Gerard has cut his hair very short, and his black hair has been bleached blonde in order to resemble the album's main character, The Patient. Bassist Mikey darkened his hair and no longer wears glasses. Frank, Ray, and Bob are also trying new hairstyles. The band's logo has been changed, as seen at Summer Sonic 2006, and resembles the font used in [2] The Black Parade logo [3]

Recently in an article in Alternative Press magazine, the title The Black Parade was confirmed by My Chemical Romance for a October 24 2006 release. . The worldwide official album name announcement outside the bands show in London on August 22 confirmed October 23, 2006 as the UK release date.

In a recent press conference [4] with the band they shared with their fans the meaning of The Black Parade. The Black Parade is the album title but it is the band's alter ego as well. The slogan "We Are the Black Parade" is saying that the fans can also be a part of this and they are also The Black Parade.

The band performed "Welcome To The Black Parade" on MTV's 2006 VMA preshow on August 31 . The crowd for the performance was made up of the MCRmy (their street team).

The first US performance of The Black Parade was the same night, at the Knitting Factory in New York City. It was invite only; the crowd composed of members of the MCRmy and some other kids who were in the clip from the VMA preshow that preceeded the performance. They performed four of the new songs: Dead!, I Don't Love You, House of Wolves, and Cancer.

When asked by a fan what their favorite song was off the record in a video on theblackparade.com, Gerard and Mikey both responded "Welcome to the Black Parade" because it best represents the album, Frank Iero said "Cancer" because it's their only really stripped down song, Ray Toro said "Famous Last Words" because it ends the journey of the record with a sense of hope, and Bob Bryar said that today it was "I Don't Love You", because they recently had played it and he thought it was just a great song.
The song "The End" was the former opening track for the Black Parade stated by Gerard Way, the song was said to be dropped from the album, but in a recent interview with the band it has been put back in as the opening track again, followed by "Dead" which was almost the new opener. Gerard Way decided that the song "Dead" fits in great after the song "The End" because it ends up telling a story and making their new album a theatrical record. The Black Parade's track listing has been confirmed in a current issue of the Kerrang music magazine.

Concept

As said by Gerard in a recent interview: "This album is a story of a man, known as 'The Patient' who dies in a hospital. He goes on an odyssey and examines his life and the mistakes he has made. His strongest memory is his dad taking him to a parade when he was a child. So when death comes for him, it comes in the form of a black parade." It is speculated that The Patient dies of cancer, due to a song on the CD called "Cancer", as well as Gerard saying he cut and dyed his hair bleach blonde to look like The Patient (many fans do not realize this), and his new look resembles a man who's gone through chemotherapy.

Gerard has cited Queen's influence, and it is interesting to note that their second album, Queen II (1974), was anchored by the song "The March of The Black Queen," composed by the late Freddie Mercury, to which the single "Welcome To The Black Parade" bears some stuctural and thematic resemblance. The tonality of the guitar orchestration in "WTTBP" also highly resembles the timbral qualities of the guitar orchestration done by Queen guitarist Brian May, especially in the Mercury composition "It's A Hard Life" on the Queen album "The Works" (1984), which would not be remarkable but for the extremely idiosyncratic tone and common modality. The opening and closing bits of "WTTBP" are highly reminiscent too of the Queen song "Innuendo," off the eponymous Queen album "Innuendo" (1991), the last recorded and released before Mercury succumbed to HIV/AIDS on November 24, 1991(Innuendo in turn was influenced by one of Queen's favorite bands Led Zeppelin on their 1975 song Kashmir. Gerard's marching band-inspired wardrobe for his rooftop performance at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards also bears similarity to the outfits Mercury wore onstage during Queen's 1986 Magic Tour, and Gerard's hand motions seem studied as well.

Gerard has also stated that the three albums that had the biggest influence on this album were Queen's "A Night At The Opera", The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", and Pink Floyd's "The Wall".

Track listing

1. "The End"
2. "Dead!"
3. "This is How I Disappear"
4. "The Sharpest Lives"
5. "Welcome to the Black Parade" – 5:11
6. "I Don't Love You"
7. "House Of Wolves"
8. "Cancer"
9. "Momma"
10. "Sleep"
11. "Teenagers"
12. "Disenchanted"
13. "Famous Last Words"