If this CD were a person, I would marry it and bear its children.  It’s spectacular.  Completely beyond anything I was possibly expecting.  It’s not Second Stage Secrets of Silent Apollo, Volume II: From Fear Through the World for Tomorrow (my clever way of combining the title of their previous albums) – evidence of what made those prior albums as great as they were.  There are lyrics that are a direct reference, which is something I love, but it’s an album telling the final chapter of a story (if you’re into the conceptual side), if not – it feels like an inside joke. 

My first impressions were initially a bit flat, and that’s probably because I was listening to shitty myspace tracks, and trying to take in the entire album in a single breath.  There are so many incredible nuances in the music, that every time I listen to a song I already know well, I’m hearing something new.  It’s refreshing.  Coheed has always been very much a band that takes a few listens to appreciate.  I think that’s largely because their sound is pretty distinct, in contrast to what’s mainstream these days.  They’re not emo, they’re not pop-punk; neither are they alternative, nor metal.  They exist somewhere in between everything.  Obvious classic rock influences with a generous helping of 80s metal, science fiction and one hell of a hard year. 

This blew my expectations away.

Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume II: No World for Tomorrow

Coheed & Cambria

Review:

1. The Reaping – by far, the best intro track Coheed has done, in my opinion.  Sets the stage perfectly for the following track, and the rest of the album in a way that couldn’t be better.  “Always and Never” off the last album always felt out of place and insignificant to me.  “The Reaping” does not fail.
2. No World for Tomorrow – I hope to god they open with this someday.  It’s epic in a truly unique way. A huge split from “Welcome Home”, but just massive-sounding It’s got that In Keeping Secrets…” feeling, but more upbeat and edgy.  I love this song.  It’s like battle cry meets bloodlust meets church choral meets dramatic narrative meets the essence of pure rock.  So good.  SO GOOD.
3. The Hound (of Blood and Rank) – surprisingly, not as loud and scary as you’d think.  Whoever Claudio had in mind when he wrote the lyrics must’ve really pissed him off, though… ‘cause wow.  And why is it that I don’t think the line “I’ll dig it ‘till we’ve made your grave/oh you’ve been a bad, bad boy/ I’ll cut it ‘till I carve it out” is nearly as terrifying as the bouncy, “I hope your life’s a living hell”?  Great soloing… it rocks your face off.
4. Feathers – I’d call it the “Favor House” of this album… it’s fucking addictive.  There may or may not be a hand-gesture-dance coming.  I associate this song with the color purple for some reason.  I can’t resist it.  Wait a minute little back porch lady, wait a minute little back porch lady – I’m in love wait a…
5. The Running Free – If you haven’t heard it by now, you probably live under a rock… or something.  I think I’ve overplayed it, but it really is a damn good song.  Crazy vocal changes like nothing else on the album.
6. Mother Superior – Wow.  Un-fucking-believable.  Musically, lyrically, particularly vocally… you really feel it.  The conflict and terror this character faces, knowing he’s going to die one way or the other – and is it cowardly to take control by means of the easy way out?  Gives me chills.
7. Gravemakers & Gunslingers – This song grabs you by the face, smashes you into your locker, steals your lunch money, makes you it’s bitch, and doesn’t say “sorry”.  It melts your face off and causes spontaneous, and often uncontrollable rocking-out.   An all-out, guitar-shredding rockfest.
8. Justice in Murder – This song is solid, hard-rocking track, but what makes it even more intense is knowing it was written about the suffering Claudio’s aunt went through with Alzheimer’s, how he felt watching her degenerate, and with that in mind, the anger and frustration that comes with bearing witness to that suffering.  It rocks, too. 
9. The End Complete I: The Fall of House Atlantic – Instrumental, unless you count all the chouses of “No” chanted through the bridge between the album and The End Complete series. 
10. The End Complete II: Radio Bye Bye – This one grows on you as it plays.  It’s the “Mother May I” of NWFT.  Good, solid, but easily forgettable.  Especially when you consider the following track. 
11. The End Complete III: The End Complete – Love.  Love for this track.  Seven minutes and change and it feels too short.  You really get the feeling that everything is slipping out of control on a massive level, and as the track progresses, you get this image of chaotic destruction happening everywhere (especially at the Crowing scream, featured twice on the album J).  By the end, you understand the album cover, and you’ve got this overwhelming sensation of the world collapsing beneath you, looking out at the universe you can’t save.  Musically, it does things and goes places you weren’t sure music could go – and it does it well. 
12. The End Complete IV: The Road and the Damned – I’m not going to lie, this song makes me cry by it’s close.  Okay, by the end of the first chorus I’m choking back tears.  It’s usually more intense when I’ve listened to The End Complete first, but oh god.  Just picks up with a wistful swell of music and immediate vocals (in an absolutely beautiful harmony) where the last track left off, and I dare you to look at the CD cover and not cry.  His world is literally ending, being pulled apart, and nothing can be done to save it.  Coming to terms with everything that has been and where he is; the protagonist reminisces on a love that might have been saved – though he knows there’s no time left – literally and figuratively.  It’s so incredible and tragically sorrowful.  I beg you all to give this a few listens.  I think I hated this the first time I heard it.  But oh how wrong I was.
13. The End Complete V: On the Brink – there’s a bit of Second Stage at around 00:30, but this track is such an amazing blues piece, which of course morphs into a “Final Cut” homage and a scream, an unexpected surge, which goes quiet and picks up with the guitar solo.  The vocals are simply nothing shy of incredible.  You can really hear the vast improvement on every track, but here, he’s really fucking singing.  This one makes me cry too, just at the “the world must know my story/ So long, Amory…/please drive me home one last time” part.  Probably because it’s such a perfect, unquestionable way to end a four-album saga that’s been in production for six years.  It’s exactly how it ought to end, in every way.  I’m honestly amazed at how intricate and complex it is.