The Black Parade - Reception

Reception

The album received critical acclaim from Allmusic, NME, IGN, and Rolling Stone. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79, based on 24 professional critic reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Dan Martin from NME compared the album to Green Day's American Idiot, positing that "it's a piece of work that will challenge every preconception you ever had about the people who made it." Tim Karan of Alternative Press called The Black Parade "MCR's whole raison d'etre rolled up into one mega-decibel calling card". Ed Thompson of IGN stated, "The Black Parade is a rock and roll gem that celebrates everything that was over the top about the 1970s rock scene." David Fricke of Rolling Stone praised the classic rock feel of the album. Rolling Stone went on to rank The Black Parade #20 in its "Top 50 Albums of 2006" feature. Spin magazine named it the 5th best album of 2006. Entertainment Weekly stated that "On their third studio album, a musical H-bomb of an effort, the Jersey quintet combine the rock-opera pomp of Queen with the darker, dirtier tones of their screamo past: Call it a Bro-hemian Rhapsody. Even without its broad concept — a dying cancer patient seeks revenge and redemption — Parade stands as one of the most cohesive, engaging rock records of 2006." The Black Parade was ranked the third best record of the year, being surpassed only by Gnarls Barkley and TV on the Radio. Wizard Magazine praised the album in their "Best of 2006" issue, declaring it "an instant classic." IGN named it one of the best rock albums of the last decade Robert Christgau gave the album a two-star honorable mention and said, "In prog, a good sense of humor means so much."

The album was not without its share of criticism, and was panned by such publications as The Observer and Aversion. Stated Jamie Hodgson of The Observer, "...it reeks of a band with ideas above its station." Matt Schild of Aversion originally refused to review the album, simply writing the word "lame" in lieu of an actual review. Bowing to editorial pressure, he later posted a review listing specific aspects of the album before denouncing them as "lame". Theon Weber of Stylus praised the album's use of Queen influences, but went on to summarize the album as "...a goofy record of bubblegum punk, with Queen lapping at its edges and enough good tracks to justify the smattering of empty screamfests."