Coheed & Cambria have been around for a while now. The early formation of the band was called Beautiful Loser; in time with some lineup changes they became Shabutie, and eventually came to the name Coheed & Cambria. Well, what does the name Coheed & Cambria mean exactly? It is not a straight answer; you see, singer, guitarist, lyricist, and songwriter Claudio Sanchez is writing in total five concept albums that all revolve around a specific story. Three of these albums so far are released, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3, and Good Apollo, I?m Burning Star IV Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness. These three albums are the second, third, and fourth installments of the story, respectively. The actual story is one that is open to interpretation, but revolves around the son of father, and mother, Coheed & Cambria, who is promptly named Claudio, and his love Newo.
The Second Stage Turbine Blade, and In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3 both held a dark exterior to them in lyrical content, but never truly revealed themselves as such albums. However, with Good Apollo, I?m Burning Star IV Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness this all changes. The mood is completely changed to being a dark, hostile, and even violent album. Even the acoustic ballad,
Always & Never pertains a haunting, dark element in the lyrical, and vocal style of Claudio. He sings about what Claudio, and Newo?s future could be like, but something seems wrong. What is wrong would be the closing lyrics in which Claudio states,
?I?m still waiting here my dear, to kill all of you." The theme of revenge is instantly brought in then.
Always & Never is a short song, coming in at a little over two-minutes, but the relaxing sweeping of the acoustic guitar sets off the lyrics to make a very memorable song.
The whole album is written extremely well, and is also placed together greatly too. The album begins with the standard Coheed & Cambria intro, with a lone violin, and piano together. The music actually isn?t new, but is a combination of The Second Stage Turbine Blade, and In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3?s intros. It?s strange that it?s such a beautiful intro because I always considered the intros for the other two albums annoying. The first single,
The Suffering, at times feels like the black sheep of Good Apollo. It seems like it was specifically made to be a single. The chorus seems a little forced, but still works, especially since it?s one of the more important lyrical segments of the album. Claudio asks Newo,
?Now listen well; will you marry me?, but she responds,
?Not now, boy?. This is an excellent song, actually showing some Rush influence, for once, but feels out of place because the writing style of the album is far less pop influenced.
The standout track of Good Apollo reveals itself quite early as the second actual song of the album.
Welcome Home, despite argument from record label officials is going to be the second single for the album. It?s six-minutes long, but is actually only the fourth longest song on the album. Some great lead guitar playing is found fairly much everywhere in this song, and if you don?t here that, then it?s the bass, and guitar sharing together a huge building, repeating lead together. The song is already drilled into the listeners head as an instantaneous classic, but Claudio takes the song one step further with the utterly beautiful, yet depressing chorus of,
?You stormed off to scar the armada. As Jesus played letter, I?ll drill through your hands. The stone for the curse you have blamed me, with love, and devotion. I?ll die as you sleep, but if you could just write me out; to neverless wonder? happy will I become. Be true, that this is no option. So with sin I condemn you. Demon play, demon out! Then the song continues to impress with a classic guitar solo that lasts for a whole minute! Soon after, the song dies out, and the reader ends up with the impression that nothing will be able to touch that song. That is certainly true, but the rest of the album is still completely superb, and without fault. One song does however attempt to steal the spotlight from
Welcome Home.
After getting more than three/fourths through the album it is apparent that this is indeed about revenge for Claudio on Newo, but on
The Willing Well I- Fuel for the Feeding End this revenge is made abundantly clear. The song goes along nicely for the first two minutes with some great instrumentation, and seems like it has the makings of being one of the standout tracks, but would still need some sort of grand opus to top it off. Well, that truly comes after a couple minutes. Heavy riffs come in; with Claudio deeply singing
?Feed little maggots off the Westside of your sin. Run little maggot when they learn of what you did. It's a scary moment for the listener, and they will most likely be having on of those, WTF!!!??? moments. The song goes back to an even more pop influenced style right after the scary moment, and slows down two thirds through with a great, long guitar solo played. The final track,
The Willing Well IV-The Final Cut brings a climactic end to this classic album. The very feeling of the guitar is a triumphant sorrow that is further brought out to a feeling of Armageddon with Claudio?s singing. This seems a fitting way to close out the album.
Until Bron Yr shows up ; )
This hour-plus album has everything. A creepy orchestral intro, a short acoustic ballad, a six-minute metal epic, and that's just the first three songs! There are no filler tracks to be found throughout the whole album; each song brings something worthwhile, and enjoyable to the table. Instrumentation is great throughout. One guitar plays utterly fantastic leads, while the other plays off on more riff-based power chords, which balances out perfectly. The bass is heard this time through with great fills on such songs as
The Willing Well I- Fuel for the Feeding End; unlike how dead it was on In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3. Drums accompany the rest of the instruments well, and are heard well with some nice fills once in a while. The only thing the listener could find wrong with the record is that they might be annoyed by Claudio Sanchez's somewhat squeaky voice. This will appeal to anyone who listens to any form of rock.
Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness is an absolute classic, and one of the top albums of 2005.
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This is no beginning...
This is the final cut; open up, I'm in love.
