A bands first album is very important. The success of it will either make, or break a band. So what would I suggest for a band to do? Well, I would try to create something unique, but at the same time being accessible to the listener, and also for the album to flow smoothly. With Coheed & Cambria, they did just that. The Second Stage Turbine Blade was released in 2002 on Equal Vision Records. The success of that album actually convinced the bands label that Coheed & Cambria were going to be big, and they were going to need help to distribute, and promote the band, so therefore they jointly signed with Columbia Records. What happened next was the release of the album In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3. Granted, this isn’t as original as The Second Stage Turbine Blade is, nor is it close to being called a classic either, but it is still enjoyable, and very accessible at that.
What is so accessible is that singer Claudio’s voice is high-pitched, but no too much. His work on songs such as
Three Evils (Embodied In Love And Shadow), and the self-titled, eight minute epic
In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3 will leave the listener amazed. The music is put together well, and cohesively works with Claudio’s singing; particularly on
Cuts Marked In The March Of Men, but back to
Three Evils (Embodied In Love And Shadow). Out of every Coheed & Cambria song, this has the most emotional, heart wrenching lyrics. In a part of the chorus it seems that the lyrics resolve around either killing one self to end the pain.
“Pull the trigger, and the nightmare stops.” It’s so depressing with the way it is sung that the band had this written at the end of the lyrics in the booklet-
“These lyrics are part of a story and should not be taken literally.”
It seems that in all three of Coheed & Cambria’s releases that they have a specific sound for each album. With The Second Stage Turbine Blade it showed elements of a post-hardcore influence, and on Good Apollo it seemed targeted to more straight up rock. Here on In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 it is slightly pop-punk based. That is evident on the pop-inspired hit in
A Favor House Atlantic, which helped the album gain in popularity, and have steady sales. Even more so with the other single,
Blood Red Summer. That is about as squealish, and poppy as the Claudio’s voice will get though.
I am a self-professed Coheed & Cambria lover, but I can’t deny that there are a couple of faults that this album has. A big problem is that bassist Mic Todd is so low in the mix, he might as well of not bothered to record his parts to the songs. The instrumentation is of great quality, but could use some variation at times. Lastly, the final track
The Light & The Glass is rather boring. Basically it goes on for nine-minutes, and has a pretty cool outro, but from beginning to the middle of the song, you just sit there listening, waiting for it to get over with, or at least surprise you with some grand chorus, which it basically fails to do. However, at the end of that song is a hidden track, titled
2113, which is also nine-minutes, and makes up big time for the dragged out
The Light And The Glass. There’s some great instrumentation during the whole song, and the guitar helps make this album end on an enjoyable note.
As already said, this is a great album, but not a classic like the other two Coheed & Cambria records. There are some great songs on here, such as the epic title-track,
Cuts Marked In The March of Men, and
Three Evils (Embodied In Love And Shadow). This gets a conditional recommendation from me, and if you love either of the other two Coheed and Cambria releases, then you’ll like this, just not as much.
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…pray for us all, pray for us all, pray for us all, pray for us all, pray for us all, pray for us all, pray for us all…
