Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 104: My Chemical Romance's Black Parade (+ clipping. results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

poll for Seanchan's week:
In Flames - Colony
vs.
Symphony X - Paradise Lost
vs.
Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, March 5 at 4:00 PM Central Time; the future week poll will close earlier, when I am putting up the next topic
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.
9. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade track list:
1. The End.
2. Dead!
3. This is How I Disappear
4. The Sharpest Lives
5. Welcome to the Black Parade
6. I Don't Love You
7. House of Wolves
8. Cancer
9. Mama
10. Sleep
11. Teenagers
12. Disenchanted
13. Famous Last Words
14. Blood

Current cycle:
3/5: VeryInsane (Gorillaz - Plastic Beach)
3/12: FoolFantastic (Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You)
3/19: Seanchan
3/26: Johnbobb/ZaziGuado/jcgamer107
4/2: Giggsalot
4/9: RyoCaliente
4/16: darkx
4/23: Snake5555555555/Raetsel_Lapin/Seanchan
4/30: neonreaper
5/7: Great_Paul
5/14: jcgamer107
5/21: Giggsalot/MetalmindStats/rwlh
5/28: ChichiriMuyo
6/4: BlueCrystalTear
6/11: rwlh
6/18: NFUN
6/25: HBJDubs/firefdr/NFUN

Future cycle:
7/2: MetalmindStats
7/9: HBJDubs
7/16: Raetsel_Lapin
7/23: competitive week
7/30: Steiner
8/6: Snake5555555555
8/13: Jesse_Custer
8/20: competitive week
8/27: ZaziGuado
9/3: firefdr
9/10: Johnbobb
9/17: competitive week

Reminder that you can still vote for clipping. for fourish more hours in the other topic

Seanchan on this week's choices:
"All 3 nominations are metal albums by artists which I have enjoyed multiple albums from over the years.

In Flames - Colony
I'm not sure this is the "right" album to nominate for In Flames, but it's representative and contains one of my favorite songs of all time (not the one I've linked to below...), so it gets the nod over Clayman. I love the overall sound of the instrumentation, but I'll be the first to admit the vocals might throw some people off. They mesh well with the overall sound of the guitars, drums, etc. but these are not clean so they can be very hard (verging on impossible) to understand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPQhEn2sJpE

Symphony X - Paradise Lost
I'm not sure this is the "right" album to nominate for Symphony X, but it's the first one that came to mind when I thought to put them up, a concept album loosely based upon Milton's classic poem. Their music has a lot of theatrical, operatic elements, with a tremendously talented vocalist. I'll say that this particular album is a bit harder sounding overall than their previous work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8gA1ooxw0I

Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage
Yes, this is the one with everyone's favorite Guitar Hero 3 song, Through the Fire and Flames. I know this band is corny and over the top but I love it. They are, at points, just a wall of fast, frenetic sonic noise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15JCb6P60Vw

Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage > Symphony X - Paradise Lost > In Flames - Colony

I love all three of those albums >_> can't choose

Paradise Lost > Colony > Inhuman Rampage

In Flames - Colony > Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage > Symphony X - Paradise Lost

I don't know if I'd still enjoy In Flames or not but I was a big fan of Come Clarity in high school

Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage > Symphony X - Paradise Lost > In Flames - Colony

First listen done.

As you might expect from someone who tends to like pop-punk, I enjoyed that quite a bit. And it's a true first listen. My Chemical Romance didn't make it big until after I stopped listening to a lot of music, so the only thing I really knew from them was I'm Not Okay (which is great, btw). Maybe I've heard Welcome to the Black Parade before too at some point; that one certainly stood out on first listen.

Vote nom is, of course:
In Flames - Colony > Symphony X - Paradise Lost > Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage

Johnbobb posted...

I don't know if I'd still enjoy In Flames or not but I was a big fan of Come Clarity in high school

Come Clarity is the last In Flames album I listened to before falling off them. I was listening to it a bit today after seeing your post, and yeah, that's still a good one. Even back then, I remember feeling like it was a bit of a return to form after Reroute to Remain and Soundtrack to Your Escape.

funny enough I discovered both Dragonforce and In Flames because of Guitar Hero 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6w56VdrnaA

Black Parade is one of my favorite albums. Whenever we go on family trips that require a long drive, my wife puts on all of MCRs good albums (Bullets sucks) to listen to. So while I now associate the band with traffic, I still love them.

1. Mama
2. Disenchanted
3. Famous Last Words
4. The End
5. Dead!
6. Welcome to the Black Parade
7. I Dont Love You
8. House of Wolves
9. This is How I Disappear
10. The Sharpest Lives
11. Sleep
12. Teenagers
13. Cancer
14. Blood

Ranking these songs was tough. The End/Dead are a great 1-2 punch to start the album. Mama, Disenchanted, and Famous Last Words are some of MCRs best songs. Welcome to the Black Parade might just be the song of a generation of goth/emo kids. Most of the rest are excellent too with one exception. Blood is just a weird extra and it makes me wish the songs from the deluxe version were included with it. But regardless, this album is such a good time.

Dragonforce > In Flames > Symphony X

And why not. Ill sign up for a future week.

obligatory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw6i1SAHetc

bump

up

clipping. - Splendor & Misery results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
ChichiriMuyo (18)
Johnbobb (20)
TheArkOfTurus (20)
FoolFantastic (30)
Seanchan (36)
Natalie (40)
Raetsel_Lapin (46)
HBJDubs (58)

General Album Comments

Johnbobb: what a cool fuckin album. I'm a total sucker for a great concept album and this one just has everything. A twisted narrative of the lone survivor of a futuristic slave ship taking over the ship and forming a relationship with its AI and taking revenge on the slaver colonies and getting lost in space. Incredible sound mixing, different song types and genres altogether, hidden messages. I've loved everything clipping. has put out but S&M is just on a different level altogether.

Seanchan: I was generally enjoying thisbut at the same time I kept thinking that this is a terrible choice for a track ranking since it feels like a contiguous piece.

ChichiriMuyo: I feel bad ranking the tracks here, because it's obviously a concept album meant to be taken as a whole. And what a concept. Unless I'm imagining things here we have an interstellar slaveship, an uprising, the computer siding with (loving?) the surving slave, and said slave just dreaming of returning to the life taken from him. Does he keep his hope or lose his mind? I'm not sure, I'm not sure he's even still alive by the end. Is the last track the AI trying to do right by the fleshy little human it is carrying? Acknowledging that it can float in space forever, but the man inside needs more? And there is no resolution, no solid answers to how it all turns out. No mention of reaching a destination, or of what happened to "the cargo."

What a piece of art.

Seanchan: An interesting album, though I don't think I ever enjoyed it more than I did on my first listen. In many ways it's a silly exercise trying to rank the tracks here, like trying to judge a casserole or cake by its components rather than the end result. This was especially apparent to me doing my out preliminary ranking order listen.

HBJDubs: Real tough to rank individually as others have said, but since we also rank the albums I don't mind getting something like this to listen to. The album sounds really unique which is always cool. I didn't really get into it at times but it did leave enough of an impression that I want to give this another go somewhere down the line

Splendor & Misery track ranking

15. Long Way Away (Instrumental) (Track #9)
Score: 15 (Average Rank: 14.13/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Natalie (#10)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Johnbobb, ChichiriMuyo, HBJDubs, TheArkOfTurus (#15)

14. Interlude 02 (Numbers) (Track #7)
Score: 32 (Average Rank: 12/15)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Natalie, Seanchan (#15)

Johnbobb: This is barely a song, but it's also a big part of what makes me love the album. The letters being read out are a cipher that require a keyword (that's later provided in Air 'Em Out, "the keyword is Kemmer") and ultimately spells out "The target is Amy Clark" but it's theorized that it refers to Dr. Clark (a character that appears in Story 2, a song on their prior album that also connects to this album's Story 5) but it's also the name of a real-life escaped slave.

13. Interlude 03 (Freestyle) (Track #11)
Score: 38 (Average Rank: 11.25/15)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Natalie, Johnbobb (#14)

12. Interlude 01 (Freestyle) (Track #4)
Score: 45 (Average Rank: 10.38/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Natalie, TheArkOfTurus (#13)

Johnbobb: There's an argument to be made that trading out atmosphere in place of the ability to actual hear the lyrics is a bad thing. I won't make the argument, but it could be made.

11. Long Way Away (Intro) (Track #1)
Score: 48 (Average Rank: 10/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic (#14)

Natalie: Listening through for this ranking made me realize how much of the heavy lifting on this album is done by interlude tracks, even though it might not be apparent from their placement in lists. Long Way Away (Intro) has always been striking to me for its introduction of that haunting melody which acts as a refrain throughout the record. It does come back on Long Way Away, which is similar but a little less impactful, and Long Way Away (Interlude) with less structure but a very nice use of theremin, but the intro version sticks out to me the most.

Johnbobb: Natalie nailed it in their comments about this song. A big part of what makes this album so incredible is the interludes. They aren't silly unrelated sketches like often appear in rap albums; they're atmospheric and intense and often contain brief chunks of excellent lyricism

10. The Breach (Track #2)
Score: 49 (Average Rank: 9.88/15)
Biggest Fan(s): TheArkOfTurus (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#14)

Natalie: This is basically the intro to All Black and it's difficult to evaluate it on an individual basis, but the force with which you're introduced to Diggs here is remarkable. The first time I heard this absolutely perfect diction at speed it was mind blowing and that effect has never fully worn off.

Johnbobb: I will stand by the opinion that Daveed Diggs is the most talented rapper working today. He doesn't just rap quickly, he does so in such a way that the lyrics are always crisp and precise and comphrensible so that even tiny songs like this are startling

9. Long Way Away (Track #6)
Score: 59 (Average Rank: 8.63/15)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, TheArkOfTurus (#11)

Johnbobb: Look, I already rambled about how cool the very basis of this album's story is (lone survivor of a space slave colony) but pairing the style of slave hymns in a sci-fi setting interspersed with the rap is just so good

8. Story 5 (Track #13)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 8.38/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Natalie (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#15)

Natalie: I don't really know what to say here that isn't obvious. These harmonies are gorgeous, full to the point of making you forget there's not any accompanying instrumentation, and the severity of this story - the way it draws you not just into this character but her cause, her charisma, the idea of her as a revolutionary champion of the people cut down in a tragedy - to give us that and then successfully couch all of this in the idea of a future traditional song concerning now-contemporary times is such an interesting juxtaposition. I can't claim to understand the finer points of Splendor & Misery's narrative, but I appreciate and respect Story 5's position in relation to the story of the prisoner, and I'm never not crushed listening to it.

Johnbobb: What a fuckin switchup. We'd gotten some hymn-styled songs meshed with the sci-fi setting, but this is just a direct hymn about a horrifying story, and it's a story that clipping fans were already vaguely familiar with! Almost every clipping album features a "Story __" song and in the very first Story 1, a rap is told from the perspective of Randy, a beat cop just starting out getting called onto the scene of Grace's violent death (later revealing that Grace was his sister). The Story songs are always particularly tragic, telling a slow-burn connected story that both connect to the others, but also the albums they're on (ex. Story 7, which appears in There Existed an Addiction to Blood, is full on supernatural horror, while still keeping with the story arc)

7. Wake Up (Track #5)
Score: 67 (Average Rank: 7.75/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#12)

6. Baby Don't Sleep (Track #14)
Score: 77 (Average Rank: 6.38/15)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, Seanchan, HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin, Johnbobb, ChichiriMuyo (#9)

Natalie: That fucking noise beat. The whole disc is full of bursts of noise and sound effect stabs, but Baby Don't Sleep is by far the best execution in a musical context. The long, slightly off balance rumbling low end, slightly reminiscent of thundering hooves, and then that sharp KRZZZZZT acting as the release, over and over and over again. The flow over the top is just a bonus.

Johnbobb: This song is told from the perspective of the AI just like All Black, and is the final push of the AI to encourage Cargo #2331 to survive, and it's aggressive and at times almost hard to listen to as it actively tries to break the album's protagonist out of his lull into sleep

5. Break the Glass (Track #12)
Score: 83 (Average Rank: 6.25/15)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Natalie, Seanchan (#12)

Johnbobb: hey have I mentioned how much I love this album's industrial beats yet

4. Air 'Em Out (Track #10)
Score: 102 (Average Rank: 4.25/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#10)

Natalie: One of the quiet successes of S&M is its establishment of three distinct voices: the precise diction of the ship's computer, the soulful howl of the a capella hymns, and the snarl of the prisoner. This last voice really only comes through on a few tracks, but Air 'Em Out establishes him so well with those in-universe bars. Usually hip hop concept projects have to digress pretty hard to produce a bop - think Backseat Freestyle - so I'm perpetually impressed by clipping.'s ability to ground this comfortably within their setting.

Johnbobb: Interstellar gangster rap. True Believer (and the following instrumental) are a distinct turning point for the album, and in Air 'Em Out we hear the character only known as Cargo #2331 really taking over and taking his rage out on the slavers.

3. True Believer (Track #8)
Score: 106 (Average Rank: 3.88/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#7)

Johnbobb: True Believer captures everything I love about clipping. It combines the hymnlike vocals, the industrial beats, the atmospheric sci-fi effects, story-telling lyricism and Daveed Diggs' rapping ability (who doesn't rap any faster than exactly how he needs to, making his voice just another part of the song's industrial sound).

2. A Better Place (Track #15)
Score: 114 (Average Rank: 3.75/15)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, ChichiriMuyo, TheArkOfTurus (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#13)

Natalie: Concept albums have a bad habit of losing the plot and either ending up somewhere unsatisfying or ending on a total non sequitor. I have a lot of respect for the way A Better Place brings everything full circle, and the way it directly grapples with the story without feeding us a resolution. Every verse having its own flow is a great chance for Diggs to stretch his legs, and I adore the "local baseball stadium" vibe of that lead organ instrument.

Johnbobb: After a full album of tragedy, violence, sadness, anger and desperation, it goes out on a high note, both emotionally and in the context of it's story. As the protagonist pushes out into uncharted distant space, he, the AI and the listener all get that last boost of inspiration to find something better, and the slower, melodic hymns are replaced by upbeat chimes and bells and it just really ties the whole thing together

1. All Black (Track #3)
Score: 116 (Average Rank: 3.13/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#9)

Natalie: All Black could be a standalone story. Having a full arc from escape to desperation to resignation to collaboration, all told through the ship's perspective, with no non-musical digressions, with a multifaceted chorus that serves the story differently each time around, and with an open-ended sense of resolution - it's almost a disservice to the tracks that follow it when you can tune out at this point and feel fulfilled.

Johnbobb: I had liked clipping before this album, but I think this song in particular (combined with Story 2) really showed me what they were capable of in terms of telling entire stories within a single song. There's so much happening here to in the background to boost that story and set the stage for the rest of the album

Only 6 votes on the noms so far? I thought these albums would be right in Board 8's wheelhouse and would have expected more at this point.

In Flames - Colony > Symphony X - Paradise Lost > Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage

I like all of them but might not be able to participate. I can probably do Paradise Lost without a re-listen.

Symphony X > In Flames > Dragonforce

1: The End.
2: The Sharpest Lives
3: Dead!
4: I Don't Love You
5: House of Wolves
6: Disenchanted
7: Blood
8: Teenagers
9: This Is How I Disappear
10: Cancer
11: Welcome to the Black Parade
12: Famous Last Words
13: Sleep
14: Mama

1. Welcome to the Black Parade
2. The Sharpest Lives
3. The End.
4. Dead!
5. Disenchanted
6. Famous Last Words
7. This is How I Disappear
8. Mama
9. House of Wolves
10. Teenagers
11. Blood
12. I Don't Love You
13. Cancer
14. Sleep

Famous Last Words
Welcome to the Black Parade
Cancer
Disenchanted
The End.
Teenagers
Dead!
This Is How I Disappear
Blood
Mama
I Don't Love You
Sleep
House of Wolves
The Sharpest Lives

1. Welcome to the Black Parade
2. I Don't Love You
3. Dead!
4. Teenagers
5. The End.
6. House of Wolves
7. This is How I Disappear
8. Cancer
9. The Sharpest Lives
10. Disenchanted
11. Mama
12. Famous Last Words
13. Sleep
14. Blood

I really solid album all the way through. As I said alluded to in my earlier post, I think I would have been a big My Chemical Romance fan had they hit big a few years earlier, when I was in high school/college and listening to more music. At any rate, I enjoyed this album and it is one I will certainly come back to in the future (though I will absolutely skip the silly and unnecessary Blood...).

my rank:
Welcome to the Black Parade
Teenagers
Cancer
Famous Last Words
I Don't Love You
Mama
Dead!
House of Wolves
Disenchanted
The Sharpest Lives
This is How I Disappear
The End.
Sleep
Blood

1. Famous Last Words
2. This is How I Disappear
3. The Sharpest Lives
4. Welcome to the Black Parade
5. Dead!
6. Sleep
7. House of Wolves
8. Disenchanted
9. Teenagers
10. Mama
11. The End.
12. I Dont Love You
13. Cancer
14. Blood

I also enjoyed my first listens of the past two weeks' albums, just didn't manage to fit in any more of them.

Dragonforce > Symphony X > In Flames. Three bands that were in my nomination pipeline down the road (though I would have picked different albums)

The Sharpest Lives
Welcome To The Black Parade
Disenchanted
I Don't Love You
Sleep
This Is How I Disappear
Famous Last Words
Dead!
The End.
Teenagers
House Of Wolves
Mama
Cancer
Blood

This is a very good album. Probably helps that it's a concept album which I'm a sucker for...pretty much guarantees that I'll come back to it to really soak in the story (same goes for clipping).

Will remember to submit tomorrow before 4pm.

HBJDubs posted...

Dragonforce > Symphony X > In Flames. Three bands that were in my nomination pipeline down the road (though I would have picked different albums)

Which albums?

Preparing the next topic, but remember that you can vote for another ~7 hours

Results for the poll (since this one was actually close and flipped with the backup votes)
In Flames - Colony: 3
vs.
Symphony X - Paradise Lost: 2
vs.
Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage: 4

Round 2:
In Flames - Colony: 5
vs.
Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage: 4

Famous Last Words
Welcome to the Black Parade
This is How I Disappear
Disenchanted
Blood
The Sharpest Lives
I Don't Love You
Cancer
Sleep
Dead!
Teenagers
The End.
House of Wolves
Mama

Sorry for the delay