My Chemical Romance‘s 2006 LP The Black Parade was incredible for many reasons.
Not only did it make military jackets cool again, it was more than just an album. It was a fully-fledged rock opera packed with incredible songs that were wringing with raw, tactile emotion.
And none more so than the disc’s title track, Welcome To The Black Parade.
The number #1 charting single is a poignant and dark epic that begins wistfully and nostalgically before soaring to a huge, rousing climax. And the biggest reason it’s so affecting is because of frontman Gerard Way’s insane vocal performance.
Way’s voice cracks and breaks with heart-wrenching emotion as he repeats the powerful lyrics in verse 2: “When I was a young boy / My father took me into the city / To see a marching band / He said, ‘Son when you grow up / Would you be the saviour of the broken / The beaten and the damned?'”
And as if it wasn’t already amazing enough in the context of the song, a new recording that isolates Way’s vocals shines even more light on the fucking heart and fucking soul that one of rock’s most theatrical frontmen put into this single performance.
Bow down.
Listen: My Chemical Romance – Welcome To The Black Parade (Gerard Way Isolated Vocal Track)
