Coheed And Cambria - Year Of The Black Rainbow

Genre: Debateable. Supposedly Post-hardcore or Punk, I say Progressive Metal

Name: Coheed And Cambria

Album: Year Of The Black Rainbow (2010)

And the speakers played black...

Coheed and Cambria have been one of my favourite bands ever since a friend played me one song - just one - from the album "Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Part One: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness" (yup, it's a long title). I eagerly anticipated this album, and, dashing into my HMV snapped it up as soon as I could.
My expectations had been high for this album, having recently bought my own copy of the aforementioned album (their best, in my opinion) and The Sheep, a Rock Band fanatic having told me that "Guns of Summer" was now officially the hardest song on Drums. I was, in short, setting unreal expectations. After all, Coheed & Cambria are, unfortunately, only human.

Before playing the CD, I noticed the lack of any 'Suites': There were no songs all under the same name, as their had been for the Velourium Camper (In keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth), the Willing Well (Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Part I) and The End Complete (Part II: No World For Tomorrow). This was a disappointment for me: I had found that C&C reached their pinnacles in these sagas of sorrow. In addition, the artwork was mostly abstract, rather than the detailed, if bizarre, images of before. The only image I can remember is the "ashen crow", and there were others, but they weren't pictures of anything, especially not of the story: they were simply images.

I seated myself in front to the CD player and awaited the excellence. After a very atmospheric intro track, The Broken leapt forth with lyrics of the type I'd come to expect from Claudio Sanchez - "Your red lips speak of painted figures, The teeth of mangles little listeners, The thoughts that hide your rusty scissors and hooded men" is a prime example: it's dark, nearly nonsensical and creates the perfect image in your mind. Alas, that's all that seemed to seize my heart: The guitar seemed to have been stolen from another track and, for reasons I've never quite worked out, I've never really listened to, or though much of, Coheed & Cambria's drummer, which is foolish, because he's really quite good.

The song was good, don't misunderstand, but it wasn't Coheed & Cambria. I simply took it in my stride as a blip, and listened to the eagerly-awaited Guns of Summer. Alas, it seemed to be more of the same: Sanchez' lyrics, but guitar from a combination of Tool and Metallica, with maybe just a hint of Megadeth, all merged into a synthesizer-like machine, which seemed too fast for its own good, not like the usual shredding of the twin guitars. It was very, very odd. And it continued in this vein, even progressing by the fourth track to screams. Coheed & Cambria never scream - their lyrics are too poetic for such a thing. I desperately checked the CD, but I had not been mistaken: it was Coheed and Cambria blaring through my speakers.

The fifth track - "Far" - brought to centre stage something that had been annoying me the whole time, nipping at my heels. I ignored my worries that this was possibly the mellowest song on the album (misplaced) and focused on the music. It was like the other three bands I've mentioned, but not really: it only bore a passing resemblance to them. But nonetheless, it sounded familiar. It was as this song faded in that I realised: This entire album was actually Cult Of Luna! Somehow, during the recording process, the whole thing had been sped up. This came all the more evident during "This Shattered Symphony": the guitar line in the Chorus is nearly stolen from Leave Me Here, my favourite Cult Of Luna song.
But besides the speed of the songs, there was another key difference. If you listen (or at least, when I listen) to Salvation by Cult Of Luna, the entire album, despite the distortion, gives off an aura of minimalism, and a clean, uncluttered sound; much like the album cover: The speakers seem to play 'white'. This album was living up to its name, however: It was ridiculously dark. Coheed & Cambria had been serious before, but not spooky, not actively verging on the point of horror. This album sounds like the mind of a serial killer, or the thoughts of a scizophrenic madman. That's not bad, but, my gosh, it's not Coheed & Cambria. As I listened to this, I began to dread the oncoming apocalypse, the end of humanity and all bad things that are fated to pass. In short, this album was amazing: the album played 'black'.

Eventually, Coheed & Cambria seemed to have muscled their way into the recording studio, and you can hear them warming up in tracks such as "World Of Lines" and "Made Of Nothing (All That I Am)", with excellent backing vocals, a trademark of theirs, but the apocalyptic feel returned towards the end, after the partially acoustic love song "Pearl Of The Stars" (well worth a listen), even with their presence, evident in the names of the songs: "When Skeletons Live" and "The Black Rainbow".

The album ends brilliantly on said track, a very typical ender for C&C in the form of a long, spooky, dark and slow piece (See "The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut"), and I was just about believing that Coheed & Cambria had, if nothing else, at least overseen the production of the album, and maybe jotted down the lyrics. But I was not sure why this was how they had opened the Amory Wars saga (inside knowledge required here, I'll explain in a footnote): the end-of-the-world, dystopic feel was more suited to the ending, surely, after the destruction of the keystone?

I love the album - it haunted me more than my black metal whispers of ghost ships, tales of zombies and even my favourite post-hardcore album "Worse Than A Fairy Tale", which describes, in graphic, if poetic, detail the deeds of one invented serial killer in and around a certain Saylor Lake. It had the atmosphere of a doomed mission to reignite the sun, and was brilliantly written and excellently played, with guitar lines to rend hearts and licks that could kill the weak of heart in an instant. It just wasn't Coheed & Cambria, though, and I wasn't sure at first. But if this is the direction that C&C are going in, post Amory Wars, then I'm all for it. As soon as the CD finished I played it again, and a third time, not moving from my seat, just revelling in the sheer majesty of it.

In short, I would recommend this album to anyone, but, if you want to know what Coheed & Cambria are really like, then get hold of a copy of either of the "Dear Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV"s, which are by far their best pieces.

Rating: 9/10

Summary: Apocalyptic, nightmarish visions of doom and filiacide.

Lyrical Themes: The opening of the Amory Wars (Parents try to kill their children for complex reasons, and the kids flee to destroy the universe, obviously)

Track listing:
1. One
2. The Broken
3. Guns Of Summer
4. Here We Are Juggernaut
5. Far
6. This Shattered Symphony
7. World Of Lines
8. Made Of Nothing (All That I Am)
9. Pearl Of The Stars
10. In The Flame Of Error
11. When Skeletons Live
12. The Black Rainbow

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