Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 Reviewer: Steve Venegas |
There’s something to be said about live albums; they give a look into how a band really is without the filters and refining that hours in the studio provide. With that in mind, My Chemical Romance may be one of the more genuine bands to come out of the whole emo trend of the last few years.
The Black Parade is Dead was recorded at the last performance as their alter-ego band The Black Parade (think “Sargent Pepper’s,” only sadder) in Mexico City on October 7, 2007. It was a fitting place for them to have such a monumental show, considering the seriousness that the Mexican youth have taken in keeping up emo culture. Over there, the so-called Mex-emos have gone so far as to treat the trend as nothing less that a lifestyle they’re born into and have been staging emo pride parades. These likely end up leading to skinny boys with goofy hair getting beaten by punks and metalheads, but kudos to their dedication. However, I digress.
Opening with the obvious Bowie homage, ‘The End,’ the Jersey boys go full-throttle, emoting and trashing and wailing every tune. Swinging for the bleachers, Gerard Way gives a stellar show, and in the DVD that accompanies the album, he performs his over-the-top spectacle as the leader of the Black Parade. Dressed in macabre marching band uniforms, My Chemical Romance has tapped into the darker side of this particular branch of youth culture, examining the morbid graveness of it all. The kids in attendance show their appreciation by going plum loco for their heroes, as every crowd shot reveals them losing their marbles. With pyrotechnics and first-class production, the show looks more like a glam-rock act than a troop of dreary songsters.
While they might not be everyone’s cup of tea, they do put on a great show. And while they’re act may come off as a dubious ploy to exploit overly sensitive kids, considering the fact that the lead singer is in his 30s and their fan base are closer to their tweens than their twenties, the band is head and shoulders above their brethren in the eye-liner happy genre. And hey, at least they’re not The Used.
