Coheed And Cambria's new album-Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow-was the talk of many hardcore fans of the band when it was released, but despite the album reaching number six on the Billboard 200, it seemed to slip under the radar of most everyone else. That's why I'm taking the time to go back to October 23, when the album was released, and inform you of just what you are missing. This is just the first of a handful of last year's missed albums I'll be serving up not just because they deserve a listen, but also mostly because nothing good has come in 2008 yet.
The album continues the bizarre extended concept and story that has run through every Coheed album since the bands conception, a quirky science-fiction creation story that is intriguing, confusing, and easily ignorable, if you just want to listen to the band's incredible music. Since anyone could spend years reading into the story and know almost nothing about it, I'm going to stick strictly to reviewing the music on Coheed's latest release.
The album opens up with a short, but appropriate opening number called "The Reaping." This song sets the theme for the album; Claudio Sanchez (lead singer, guitarist, lyricist, and songwriter) calls out towards the top of his very high vocal range "Hell must know/There are worse things I have done," noodling on a foreboding acoustic guitar, ending on a dissonant distressed chord, the song segues perfectly into the explosive title track, "No World For Tomorrow."
This song gives a glimpse of just what Coheed has in store for us this time around. The guitar work is cleaner, faster, and more complicated than ever. It is clear everyone in the band has been listening to old Rush and Led Zeppelin records from the 1970's (there's even a distinct tinge of Pink Floyd throughout the album), but the band pulls it off without sounding old or outdated. The chorus of this tune, and nearly every track on the album, has an infectious hook and sing-a-long vocals. The yelling and aggressive call and response gang vocals Coheed is known for are showcased on this song and throughout the album, without being over-done. Song structure is as intelligent and dynamic as ever; slow melodic interludes explode into epic jams. The emotion and passion this band has for their music has soaked this album through.
The next song - "The Hound (Of Blood And Rank)" - opens with a groaning organ that screams early Pink Floyd. Bombastic guitar starts easing in, then the band really lets loose, putting forth an up-beat chorus combined with angry lyrics seeking redemption. The combination of "whoa, oh, ohs" and prog metal guitar creates an indescribable mix of poppy and badass, and when the guitar solo comes in, well-you are warned-your face will actually melt off. The building ending repeats the line, "It's all on you boy" and echoes the consistent theme of the album, calling for the main character and the listener to stand up for what they believe, be the one to advocate change, and save their own life, and hopefully those around them.
The next song, simply titled "Feathers," is one of Coheed's catchiest songs ever, and that's saying a lot. This song could easily be a single and is quite different from the first few; it's about a bad love experience with a girl who sleeps around; basically, a prog version of a blink-182 pop-punk anthem, except with soaring vocal melodies Tom DeLonge could never sing. The next song is "The Running Free," which is the first single from the album. It's a song that has really grown on me, but lacks a bombastic guitar solo, and thus is over-shadowed by most of the other songs on the album. It's an uplifting, catchy-as-all-hell song that is pulling for hope in the all-consuming nightmare that has become the world around us (and the main character). High-pitched falsettos, and "oh, oh, oh, o, oh, o, whoas" are all over the chorus.
The next track is one of Coheed's greatest in my opinion. It is much like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven," a slow acoustic and mysterious song, full of phenomenal vocal parts, piano drenched builds, and a contrasting fiery chorus that is continually calling for the resolution found in a monumental ending. This song is followed up by "Gravemakers & Gunslingers," an in-your-face, gritty, jam that indulges in the best guitar frenzy Coheed has to offer, with virtuoso solos aplenty. It doesn't hurt that the chorus begs the listener to yell the lyrics right back at the speakers it will inevitably be blasting from. This track is followed by, "Justice In Murder" - a solid and enjoyable song, but one that doesn't offer much contrast from the previous one, which is a hard song to top. It continues the theme, but by this time in the album I'm ready to abandon reality and wallow in the epic five part ending: "The End Complete."
Part one of this extended finale is "The Fall Of House Atlantic," an empowering, but wordless introduction for the rest of the ending, which comes in with "Radio Bye Bye," yet another track worthy of becoming a single, it's hard-hitting, but still cries for the listener to sing-a-long (yes I'm using that phrase again, but only because it is true), and though it's enjoyable, the rest of the end is just simply better. Part three - "The End Complete" - is nearly eight minutes long, but never ceases to keep me enthralled. It is one of the most dynamic songs on the album, it has some of the heaviest moments, opening with an emotional and melodic build up into a section screamed out into a distant microphone, creating a static effect, which lets Claudio seem almost demonic. Yet, next comes a boisterous guitar solo, into a crooning, impossibly high-pitched, bare and introspective outro. Part four is titled, "The Road and The Damned," and is a string-laden ballad, with triumphant vocals and guitar work reminiscent of 80's hair metal. It is border-line cheesy, but Coheed almost always is. Part four is a stark contrast to the closer, part five: "On The Brink."
With this album being the conclusion in the creation story of Coheed And Cambria; this last song is the story's close, the finale to the band's last seven years of work on this project (though they will still continue on afterwards with a prequel album). Within the story this song signals the demise and ultimate destruction of the universe, and the band pulls it off. This song combines everything Coheed has to offer, catchy, emotional, introspective sections accompanied by strings, contrasted with volatile and turbulent thunderous climaxes, a piano section that combines Pink Floyd and a sound that Claudio himself says is like "Ray Charles on Quaaludes." The album finishes with resolution, with destruction and rebirth. If you have decided you don't like Coheed and Cambria by now, this album won't change your opinion, but if you even enjoy just a small handful of songs, this album will completely satisfy. 4.5 Out Of 5 Stars
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