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Coheed and Cambria: Good Apollo, I’m
Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (Columbia 2005) |
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Buy your copy now from
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Ladies and gentlemen, if you thought that progressive rock was dead and buried,
please get to know Coheed and Camrbia, who are pumping out indecipherable
high-concept records that feature fascinating musicianship and enough crunchy
riffs to appease hard rock fans.
The band’s latest, Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear
Through the Eyes of Madness, begins with a beautifully orchestrated
instrumental piece entitled “Keeping the Blade,” complete with violins and a
gorgeous melody. This slips into the acoustic piece “Always and Never,” in which
lead singer/guitarist Claudio Sanchez eases the listener into the record with
lyrics like “Beauty sits, the child’s kiss.” The track features a dreamy
acoustic guitar and harmony vocals while children can be heard talking and
laughing in the background. The third track lays down some crunchy and muscular
guitar work, blasting into full stadium rock mode for “Welcome Home.” The rest
of this 71-minute plus opus vacillates in between and through these three
musical styles, offering a bit of everything along the way.
Sanchez’s voice, which has characteristics of Rush’s Geddy Lee and Triumph’s Rik
Emmit because it resides in the upper register of rock ranges, can grow a bit
tiresome after 70 minutes, but he is saved by the musicianship, which boasts
varying degrees of tone and execution throughout. To find out truly what they
are singing about, Sanchez has worked on several comic books and a graphic novel
to explain the story of this four-album concept (this is album 3 in the series),
which according to the press notes is about: `a doomed married couple who are
convinced they must sacrifice their children in order to save the world from
being infected by a virus that is embedded in their genes.’ Heavy.
If you are waiting for the reunion of Emerson Lake and Palmer or the next
Marillion record, you can snack on Good Apollo and enjoy a very good progressive
meal.
~R. David Smola
pretendcritic@aol.com
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