Notable New Release: Coheed and Cambria

I once planned on making a new release blog every Tuesday. You see how long that lasted. I've recently been thinking about how to adjust that so that I can keep up with it a little better. So I've decided to do "Notable" release blogs. Of course, there are several new albums out each week, and many of them are notable, but I've decided to just cover the ones that appeal to me and are something I would like to add to my library.

Released April 13, 2010: Coheed and Cambria's Year of the Black Rainbow

This is their fifth studio album, and it serves as a prequel to their earlier albums. A prequel, you ask? To an album? Let me give you a quick rundown on Coheed and Cambria's deal here. They've taken the term "concept album" to a new level. They have more of a "concept career" going on. Each album is a new chapter in The Amory Wars, a post-apocalyptic saga written by lead singer and guitarist Claudio Sanchez. He has been releasing graphic novel counterparts for each of the albums (though not all of them are released yet). The songs are taken from this story and are from the perspectives of various characters in the saga. In fact the name of the band comes from two characters, Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon.

The story behind this new album is a prequel to the events in the earlier albums. Rather than a graphic novel, a full novel was written to accompany Year of the Black Rainbow. I absolutely love this idea of linking all the albums to a story.

Now, musically, what is there to Coheed and Cambria? They generally have a very "emo" sound, often using catchy guitars with almost poppy melodies. I would call their genre more of "new progressive rock" though, with their lyrical elements and song forms (they typically stray from verse-chorus forms). I'll admit also, the timbre of Sanchez's voice may not be for everyone. I love it though, and seeing as how it's my blog about music I like, that's all that matters! :)

In my library, I only have two CoCa albums: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (second album) and Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (third album). I really like both of them. I'm looking forward to adding this one.

Here's the lead single from Year of the Black Rainbow, "Here We Are Juggernaut."