Always the square peg in emo’s round hole, the New Jersey band’s third set sees them break out of the subculture in spectacular style. With Green Day producer Rob Cavallo, they’ve turned in a theatrical concept album that begins with the death of protagonist ‘The Patient’. From there, the thrash-pop fivesome take us on a journey through Meatloaf histrionics (“Welcome To The Black Parade”), operatic soft rock (“I Don’t Love You”), and on “Momma”, a Russian polka workout featuring Liza Minelli. A first-person account of “Cancer”, meanwhile, pushes the boundaries of taste as far as they will go.
DAN MARTIN
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