The Black Parade
by My Chemical Romance
  • Record Label: Reprise
  • Release Date: Oct 24, 2006
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 24
  3. Negative: 1 out of 24
  1. Alternative Press
    100
    The Black Parade is MCR's whole raison d'etre rolled up into one mega-decibel calling card. [Nov 2006, p.179]
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  2. Los Angeles Times
    100
    What makes "The Black Parade" so exciting isn't anything rock is quite used to.... My Chemical Romance expresses the next generation's quest by redrawing the boundaries of reality itself.
  3. musicOMH.com
    100
    This is such a great, great record for so many reasons.
  5. Playlouder
    100
    For the first time in what seems like a long time, here is an album that is going to be deservedly huge.
  6. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    This album is not just the band's most adventurous but also its best.
  7. Blender
    90
    They've created the Sgt. Pepper of screamo.
  8. New Musical Express (NME)
    90
    This is one to file alongside 'American Idiot', 'Doolittle' and 'Nevermind' on your greatest US rock albums shelf.
  9. The New York Times
    90
    Simultaneously brutal and hilarious, and bristling with wake-up-call urgency, “The Black Parade” may prove to be the best rock record of the year.
  10. The Guardian
    80
    The most bonkers album of the year, but one of the best.
  11. AllMusic
    80
    It makes for a record that's 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.
  12. Rolling Stone
    80
    The Black Parade... is the best mid-Seventies record of 2006, a rabid, ingenious paraphrasing of echoes and kitsch from rock's golden age of bombast.
  13. Dot Music
    80
    "The Black Parade" is a big, fat, obnoxious, difficult, overbaked concept record and it's all the more exciting for it.
  14. Uncut
    80
    [It] sees them break out of the subculture in spectacular style. [Nov 2006, p.123]
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  15. Hartford Courant
    80
    It's a compelling record in the same way as Green Day's "American Idiot" was: Each shows a band pushing itself to grow, and succeeding far more than anyone could have reasonably expected.
  16. Spin
    80
    It's a savage, heartfelt, at times hilarious goth-mosh emopera. [Nov 2006, p.95]
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  17. ShakingThrough.net
    80
    As with many concept albums, the concept itself gets buried beneath the show-off virtuosity, the band's ringing need to not only impress but bedazzle the listener.
  18. Q Magazine
    70
    Fans will be baffled, but this is magnificently deranged stuff. [Nov 2006, p.147]
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  19. NOW Magazine
    60
    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.
  20. PopMatters
    60
    Tight as a unit, and apparently determined to create music that will, in one way or another, appeal to everyone, My Chemical Romance are in danger of forgetting that hooks, riffs, and yes, aggression, are also needed to stay on top of their game.
  21. Mojo
    60
    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. [Dec 2006, p.110]
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  22. Stylus Magazine
    58
    This is a goofy record of bubblegum punk, with Queen lapping at its edges and enough good tracks to justify the smattering of empty screamfests.
  23. Village Voice
    50
    For all that sonic triumph, the lyrics feel like an empty gesture, sub–Trapper Keeper woe-mongering that'll thrill suburban teens but sounds odd coming from guys old enough to know better.
  24. cokemachineglow
    47
    These songs contain all the accoutrements of anguish and despair: he sings the words, he screams the words. So why does it all sound so fake?
  25. Observer Music Monthly
    20
    It reeks of a band with ideas above their station.

Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Most Discussed Album of 2006
3
#3 Most Shared Album of 2006

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.8

Universal acclaim- based on 790 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 708 out of 790
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 790
  3. Negative: 63 out of 790
  1. EPIXMAN15
    Nov 26, 2011
    10
    Amazing album with dark and deep lyrics that live up to MCR's "emo" label but it also has that fast pased exciting rebellious punk sound thatAmazing album with dark and deep lyrics that live up to MCR's "emo" label but it also has that fast pased exciting rebellious punk sound that makes the dark theme of The Black Parade come alive. Possibly my favorite MCR album.… Full Review »
  2. House0fWolves_
    Dec 16, 2011
    9
    Unique, catchy, and still staying true to their style many have loved since they began. Their songs are meaningful, sombre, and written andUnique, catchy, and still staying true to their style many have loved since they began. Their songs are meaningful, sombre, and written and performed to perfection.… Full Review »
  3. willJ
    Jul 5, 2009
    10
    Amazing. Pure genius. The best album of the decade and the best band to emerge in the past twenty years.
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