Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV. Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness

When Coheed & Cambria released their second album, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, I was about to commit the same mistake most of the people did and still do. For some strange reason many people think of Coheed & Cambria as an Emo band and because of that, they don't even bother checking them out. Well, I did and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. An album so fresh, sincere, innovative, powerful and unique, I was absolutely hooked for months; later I bought their first album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, found it as good or even better than their second release, and from that moment on I declared my eternal loyalty to these sci-fi prog rockers of the 21st Century. When Claudio Sanchez (main composer, story writer, guitar player and vocalist) said his main influence is Yes and bands in that vein, you can get an idea of where this band's sound came from and where it's going. Being closer to Rush and 80's Metal than to any Emo band, Coheed & Cambria play a very modern and refreshing version of Prog Rock. Awesome licks and leads, killer riffing, stunning solos, diversity, brilliant song structures and beautiful 2 and 3 way vocal melodies are only some of the elements you'll find in this album. Also, many Latin influenced rhythms are thrown into the mix adding flavor to the already multi-textured album, and the addition of string arrangements in some songs makes the listening experience more intense and epic sounding. When compared with the rest of the Coheed & Cambria discography, Good Apollo could be considered the most pop-ish of them, but there's still a lot of Rock and Metal in here. Production-wise the album is crystal clear. Every single note sounds sharp and glowing and all the arrangements are perfectly balanced in the mix making of this album and absolutely killer listening experience. Concept-wise this album is part four, volume one of the Coheed & Cambria story (which is a four part sci-fi story about Coheed, Cambria, their children and a quest to save the universe). The lyrics on this one are more to the point as this is a more personal album where the writer steps into the spotlight to explain how his life has influenced the creation of this story, thing that I find quite cool. It's like a parenthesis into the story. The four last songs deal with the Coheed & Cambria story per se. I'm no prog-rock purist (is there such a thing?), so I don't know how all those Prog freaks and in general Metal fans out there will react to this album, specially because of Claudio's voice which is very high pitched and girly (think an adult man trying to sing like a little girl); but if you are open minded enough to try something different and smart enough to ignore all those ignorant comments relating the band to Emo, you'll probably find yourself absolutely addicted to this band. Without a doubt a step in the right direction for Coheed & Cambria, and one of the year's best releases. Good Apollo: I burn for you!