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The beginning has finally come for Coheed and Cambria.
Eight years after the band kicked off its “Amory Wars” series of concept albums and accompanying comic series with “Second Stage Turbine Blade,” the band’s sonic storyline is finally complete after Tuesday’s release of its prequel album, “Year of the Black Rainbow.”
If that last paragraph meant absolutely nothing to you, don’t worry. One of the perks with a band like Coheed and Cambria — and there are few bands like them — is that you don’t need to understand the sci-fi epic that is the Amory Wars to know they rock in a way few other bands do.
The unfortunate thing about Coheed’s je ne sais quoi is it doesn’t grab you right away. The first time I listened to “Year of the Black Rainbow,” I told my friends the album was a solid mix of mediocre and awesome. Both “The Broken” and “Here We Are Juggernaut,” the album’s singles, perfectly demonstrated everything great about Coheed and Cambria: the frolicking basslines, the prog-a-riffic guitar tracks and Claudio Sanchez’s ethereal vocal melodies. The rest sort of fell flat.
But, being the super-fan I am and remembering similar experiences with the great departure that was “Good Apollo I,” I gave the album a couple more shots. After about three full play-throughs, I couldn’t stop hitting “repeat all” on iTunes.
In many respects, “Year of the Black Rainbow” is a sort of homecoming for Coheed and Cambria. The band’s release of “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness” in 2005 marked a departure from the pop-punk roots that made the band a favorite on Warped Tour and propelled them to fame on the backs of their first two albums. That heavier, weirder side carried them through their last two albums.
But “Year of the Black Rainbow” has very little of the progressive rock feel of the “Good Apollo” albums; if anything, it is a push back to the glory that was “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth,” the album that popelled Coheed over the edge into mainstream success.
Aside from the two singles, for which much ink has already been spilled, the best track on the album has got to be “World of Lines.” The track’s chorus is so catchy I found myself singing along before I even knew the words. It didn’t matter that I was faking it; the song just demanded audience participation.
The track getting a whole lot of attention in the fanverse is “Far.” All of Coheed’s albums have at least one ballad-esque track, and this is it for “Year of the Black Rainbow.” The song is melancholy without being too over-the-top. According to the DVD that came with the album, drummer Chris Pennie experimented with a drumkit made of trashcans, and this song sounds like it features the garbage-kit. It’s interesting, but not particularly compelling, and may be the weakest track on the otherwise stellar album.
It bears mention the album was co-produced by Joe Baressi and Atticus Ross. Normally I wouldn’t mention production in a review, but Ross also produced Nine Inch Nails’ “With Teeth” and “Year Zero,” and his contribution to the album’s overall soundscape is evident in the gritty, grimy feel of a good chunk of the album’s tracks. The distortion level leaves the music sounding outright sludgy at times — new territory for Coheed and Cambria —and I can’t help but think it’s all thanks to Ross.
Regardless of who deserves ultimate praise for the album, “Year of the Black Rainbow” is a solid release from a band that doesn’t know how to put out anything but good music.
Grade: B+
