Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock/metal band that recently released its 5th album; Year of the Black Rainbow. It is not uncommon for progressive bands to have an album revolving around one big “theme”/story (Dream Theater, anyone? ) and Coheed and Cambria have made no exceptions here. Frontman Claudio Sanchez has been writing comic books series called The Amory Wars and the albums have always been related to the comics. This last album serves as prequel to the story.
Don’t worry, even if you are not a loyal Coheed and Cambria fan or you’re not into the comic series, you can still enjoy the songs. The album consists of 12 solid songs -15 in the album’s deluxe edition. The first track one is a non-lyrical simple intro and is followed by the energetic The Broken. Labeling the album or the band as simply progressive will be over-simplifying things. Listening to the tracks, you will find elements from progressive rock/metal, hard rock and heavy metal. Some extra electronic touches are especially felt in the song Guns of Summer. Just like any decent metal album, you are offered a few slower tracks to let you catch your breath from all the head-banging, singing along and air-drumming you’re bound to do.
The slower songs are by no means entirely slow. Nor are they boring. These two are called Far and The Black Rainbow. And how slow can a metal song really get? Exactly. You’ll be finding outbursts and fine electric-guitar solos in these two as well.
Far is the 5th track and after that the comic book theme is felt more heavily. While the lyrics make sense even if you don’t know the entire history and the comics, you will no doubt identify more if you have an idea about Sanchez’ The Amory Wars. The deluxe edition comes with the novel so you can catch up.
Fans of the progressive genre will probably appreciate the whole album. If you are more inclined towards hard rock or heavy metal, you might find the first half of the album more engaging and satisfactory. There are no brutal vocals and singer Sanchez knows how to adjust his voice according to the soul of the lyrics. It is overall a fine concept album.
It is also worth noting that the band’s official site has made a good job of engaging the fans with available concert tickets and polls about favorite songs.
