My Chemical Romance: Welcome To The Black Parade

We seem to have been getting all worked up about My Chemical Romance’s grand new concept and Gerard’s grand new hair for so long that we’d almost forgotten to wonder what the music was going to be like. This certainly lives up to the conceit, as the patient, having died, sees the Reaper approaching in the guise of the marching band that his daddy took him to see as a nipper, before falling down the tunnel with the light at the end of it. This all happens to a hysterical Meatloaf piano ballad. Truth be told, the rest of ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ genuinely is bonkers, but this is actually a bit of a red herring – since after the ghosts of Meatloaf and Queen have lifted at roundabout the third minute, it reverts quite spectacularly to factory settings and turns itself back into ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’. Which, of course, is rather marvellous.