Coheed and Cambria's Albums Rankings

Writer's Note: I actually started this list several months before its publishing, back when I was binge watching Todd in the Shadows music reviews on Youtube, so you may notice a bit of his snarky influence in my reviews of the albums. It was also being edited right before the band went on tour to play their third album in its entirety live. I've only just now finished the latter half of the list, which you'll notice is pretty longwinded and less cranky comparatively.

One of my favorite bands ever and one of my biggest influences in my taste in music and storytelling is Coheed and Cambria. Coheed and Cambria is a rock band from New York state, and depending on who you ask would determine what specific genre of rock they are defined as (emo, progressive, etc.). The name of the band comes from characters created by singer/ guitarist Claudio Sanchez and majority of their discography is about a sci-fi universe concept which during the first four albums was mostly known as the Amory Wars Saga, but the latter albums have less to do with the Amory Wars itself and more to do with the concept universe (Coheed scholars may try to correct me on my basic explanations of this idea to non-fans).

The band consists of Claudio, lead guitarist Travis Stever, drummer Josh Eppard, and bassist Zach Cooper, though previous band members included Chris Pennie on drums and Mic Todd on bass. The band's story is an interesting one, and there are a few documentaries that the band has made chronicling their journey thus far. Coheed and Cambria has created 8 albums since 2001. Because there is a lack of lists ranking Coheed albums from worst to best (outside of fan forums that is), I decided to do my own personal list. This is just my subjective opinion on which album is the worst and progressing to which album is the best.

I'll try to cover as many of the songs as possible for each album to give the full explanation and scope of what I consider to be the valuable elements and the trashy garbage (yes, even fans can have honest negative opinions of things they like) of music by Coheed and Cambria. This will periodically include an examination of demo songs if I find their inclusion necessary for discussion. Also you may see me occasionally refer to the 'album formula' of Coheed and Cambria, which for all intents and purposes, is: slow melodic intro, anthem song, rock music, acoustic ballad, more rock, proggy suite of storyline songs, soft gentle ending.

I get the feeling this kind of list will both intrigue some Coheed fans as well as turn off other Coheed fans. This albums ranking comes after many years of digesting and thinking about Coheed music and how now that I am not as obsessive about the group as I once was, I feel like I can have a more thorough understanding and appreciation, as well as misunderstanding and unappreciation, of the band and their music. Also, some of my song and album analyses are brutally honest and critical, so if the band members ever read this...I'm not sorry for my subjective opinions on the matter, guys, but at least I still do appreciate elements and music found within each album. Anyway, enough of the chatter. On with the list!

8. The Color Before The Sun

The latest Coheed album and the only one (thus far) not directly connected to the Amory Wars sci-fi story plot. I'm not saying that's why this album is the worst, I'm just stating facts. It's also a fact that this album has the least hard/ progressive rock sounds in all of their albums thus far, which I do consider to be a negative. What used to be a fun, aggressive adventure has turned into a soft, emotional examination of real life fatherhood, husbandry, and life in a band. Claudio has always mixed his personal life with song lyrics, but it's much more at the forefront of this album. Now to be fair, there are some great songs out of this.

'The Audience' maintained the aggressive, progressive sounds I've always loved about Coheed and Cambria. 'Atlas' is a punchy uplifting song dedicated to Claudio's son and 'Ghost' is a simple acoustic ballad about the fear of failing as a father based on the examples of father figures from the past. Unfortunately, these are the best of a very blah album.

'Here to Mars' and 'Eraser' are some of the album's other harder songs, but they both demonstrate generic, pop radio, formulaic composition for the instruments and also contain sounds that are more cliche Coheed rather than signature Coheed. 'Island' and 'You've Got Spirit, Kid' are the kind of songs that sound happy in their delivery but lyrically they are downtrodden and emo, the type of songs that are written by high schoolers and should be performed by high schoolers (similar to all of the songs by the band Ludo).

 'Colors' has some good moments with the guitar plucking and the vocal effects, but it is weighed down by overly-extended, gentle pacing. 'Young Love' is one of the least interesting power ballads I've ever heard. And 'Peace to the Mountain' is just...confusing...some sort of self-conscious worryfest dressed as new age hippie happy-go-lucky kumbaya nonsense that tries to hit me in the feels but just doesn't connect. In their last few albums, Coheed seems to like to end the CD with some long soft emotional piece and this one is just the longest drag of them all.

Demos: 'Bridge & Tunnel', for all of the computerized effects, is actually catchy and uplifting, the kind of happy romantic song that Claudio likes to write about and has finally gotten right. I actually forgot what 'Fangs of the Fox' sounded like before listening to it for this list and for something that has a semi-ferocious name, it's just 'Iron Fist' (see Descension review below) redone to sound even more like a cheesy 60s folk acoustic ballad.

7. Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV: No World for Tomorrow

This was the second Coheed album I ever listened to and after hearing its predecessor first, this one was a bit of a letdown. Sure it has some hard knocking, hard rocking songs and at the time it brought what we thought was the fulfillment, the final chapter, of the Amory Wars saga. The biggest problem with this album is that a great majority of the songs sound the same. By that I mean that whatever guitar effects were chosen or whatever chords they picked, it sounded like they used the exact same effects and chords for multiple songs and man, does that get boring to listen to after a few times. Now, this album should be taken with some grain of salt since at the time Coheed and Cambria was having personal issues (band members coming and going) and when most of these songs were being first written and developed, it was just the two dudes who played guitar, so it makes sense that that's where a lot of my focus and criticism stems from.

The more I listen to this album, the more I found enjoyment in songs I didn't before. This included 'The Hound (of Blood and Rank)' and 'The End Complete II: Radio Bye Bye', which both contain some fun guitar jams. 'The End Complete I: Fall of the House Atlantic' is less of a song and more of an interlude (it's about 1 minute long) but I like the contrast between the fast acoustic picking and the massive drum sound that blasts in and out. 'The End Complete III: The End Complete' (oddly, not the final song of the album) has always been in my Top 10 favorite Coheed songs and it showcases their talent at prog rock, which features multiple layers within a single song and rocking each layer hard.

 'Feathers' and 'No World for Tomorrow' are both enjoyable Coheed staples that you can blare out through open windows while driving. 'The End Complete V: On the Brink' actually features a different sound for Coheed where they experiment with soft, jazzy guitar tones found more in the classic style of rock like Allman Brothers or John Mayer (did I really just compared Coheed's guitars to John Mayer's?) and that song's first half, while slow, is interesting because of that uniqueness in their repertoire.

Now the bad. 'The Reaping' is one of the least interesting intros to a Coheed album and if it didn't break from their album formula (slow intro song goes into an anthem song), they should have just opened with 'No World for Tomorrow'. 'The Running Free', 'Gravemakers and Gunslingers', and 'Justice in Murder' are the most similar sounding of all of these songs (though like I said some of these other songs also sound like these) in terms of tone, pacing, and pitch and no matter how hard they try to rock I can't help from skipping these songs on the album. 'The End Complete IV: The Road and the Damned' is one of the most boring songs that sounds like it's trying too hard to lift me up emotionally as the album bids farewell to the story. And 'Mother Superior' (the staple acoustic song in the Coheed album formula) just takes too long to slog through.

6. The Afterman: Descension

I actually debated whether to put this above or below the NWFT album. The challenge, obviously, came from whether the good stuff outweighed the bad stuff on each album. The problem is the NWFT is very middle ground where the bad stuff isn't terrible but the good stuff isn't all that inspiring. Whereas on the Descension album, the first half of the album is some of the strongest, diverse, fun Coheed songs ever written while the second half is just awful, some of my most despised and least favorite Coheed songs ever. The good outweighed the bad in the end and so, even though the negative songs on NWFT are not as rough as their counterparts on Descension, the good songs on Descension are just better and therefore too good to put below their counterparts.

We open with 'Pretelethal' which has a ukelele and some electric chimes and yet still manages to builds up like the Big Bad Wolf, huffing and puffing and blowing out your speakers with awesomeness. Then we enter into 'Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant' which is a much better anthem about being a carefree-rebel-despite-being-a-social-outcast than 'You've Got Spirit, Kid' because it actually pumps you up instead of talks down to you.

After that is 'The Hard Sell', which has less to do with the story and more about how tough it is to avoid being a shill despite fame and fortune in the music industry, but it blends some galactic chanting with gritty guitar jams. 'Number City' is just a lot of fun, a bouncy, funky bass-driven groove that also allows some jazz instruments to have a moment in the rock spotlight. Finally, 'Gravity's Union' is the signature hard-hitting, multi-layered, prog rock sound (sensing a pattern on the kind of Coheed songs I like yet?) that makes me love Coheed songs so much.

Unfortunately, we end one of the best Coheed songs with a silly homage to 80s cheese rock in 'Away We Go' and if I wanted some sappy 80s rock, I'd listen to Whitesnake. Then is 'Iron Fist', which is a sloppy blend of gentle folk acoustics with electronica din and see 'Away We Go' for my response to cheesy romantic nonsense in rock music (not to mention the blasphemous language in the main chorus). Side note, I really do not object to cheesy romance in rock music as long as it is written well and I can take the song seriously (you'll see this good kind of romantic tune later on the list).

Anyway, then we are treated to 'Dark Side of Me' where the singer says 'I'm sorry that I'm a jerk and terrible sometimes, baby. I'm sorry that I'm human and make mistakes like everyone else' except in the slowest, whiniest way possible. '2's My Favorite 1' is so lovey-dovey it almost hurts and I imagine this as the kind of song newlyweds would pick for their first dance song because it sounds so light and fluffy and romantic.

Demos: The demos almost make up for the last four songs. 'Carol Ann' especially is a powerful song despite its simplicity. It's one man and one electric guitar, but it tells a tragically beautiful story full of imagery and it does so with gusto. The other song 'Random Reality Shifts' features some experimentation with time shifts and tries to fit in more with the galactic first half of the album. It would be interesting to hear this song in full band form rather than acoustic guitar.

5. In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3

Surprise! Usually you would find this album at the top of other Coheed albums rankings. This, their second album, is the one that put them in the spotlight of up and coming rock bands and also clearly narrated the story of the Amory Wars, letting the listeners know that these albums feature characters and settings in a sci-fi action adventure. However, the style of music used in this album just does not catch my ear like others. On this second album, the style in which the songs were written made it hard to define their genre. The sound wasn't completely metal, emo, prog, pop, or just general rock, but it blended all of these elements, with a particular leaning towards the emo and pop punk styles that made bands like Fall Out Boy and Blink 182 so popular around this time. Ultimately, it's just filled with songs that make me go 'meh' with just enough quality material in a few songs  to define the signature Coheed style.

The intro song, 'Ring in Return', starts off confusingly with just a phone ring and we hear footsteps and a female voice answer the phone before a booming choir and piano announce a grand entrance of a story. This is followed by the song which shares the album's name and it is clear why this is one of Coheed's best songs ever. This is where the 8 minute, hard rock anthem was introduced to the album formula and it gets you excited to 'man your own jackhammar,man your battlestations'. It causes a rush of blood and adrenaline, it's a call to action, it's exciting!

Then, I normally skip 'Cuts Marked in the March of Men' and 'Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)' because they're busy telling the story but their pace and attempts to experiment with time signatures muddle things up. Then we get the crunchy, exciting 'The Crowing', which manages to both tell what is happening in the story while also providing interesting music to jam to.

Then follows 'Blood Red Summer' and 'The Camper Velorium I: Faint of Hearts' which both feature Claudio's high pitch vocals in fake happy tones, and unlike Alien Ant Farm's ability to have fun and joke around while playing 'Smooth Criminal', Coheed and Cambria are trying to tell an intriguingly dark story with interestingly light music and I can't enjoy it if they are providing a false sense of happiness amongst bland rock sounds.

I used to continually play 'The Camper Velorium II: Backend of Forever' when I first listened to the album and while some of its charm has been lost on me, it's still an intriguing back and forth between gentle soothing and chaotic frenzy sounds, plus it's one of those songs that as a teen bachelor you can interpret the lyrics to apply to your own life. I like the grungy hard rock-ness of 'The Camper Velorium III: Al the Killer' and it would be a much better song if the lyrics weren't so easy to take out of context and make you sound like a crazy person.

'A Favor House Atlantic' is the first real hit that Coheed had, and it's easy to tell why because of the catchy fun of the instruments and the bright high tone in Claudio's voice. The only real trouble with that song is that Claudio wrote a song that he has never really been able to fully replicate onstage (i.e. he doesn't sound the same live as he does on the album, unlike most other songs).

The album seemingly closes with 'The Light and the Glass' which is a soothing breather after the fast burning rock of the previous two songs, and the whole balance between angelic and headbanging sounds in the second half of this song are very much enjoyed, but then there's the hidden track '21:13', another 9 minute exercise in progressive rock, layering different time signatures and tones, all with electric rock fun. For this album I most enjoyed those songs that were 6+ minutes with an intricate back and forth between delicate ballad tones and heavy metal noise.

4. The Second Stage Turbine Blade

The first album of the band known as Coheed and Cambria. This shows the band focusing on putting as much rock'n'roll energy into their music as possible instead of worrying about what elements of the Amory Wars storyline make sense lyrically, though you can piece the story together from time to time. None of the songs are really extensive, 8 minute multi-layered pieces of prog rock, but most of the songs are fast, loud, and pumped up on adrenaline.

Admittedly, it has been a long time since I have listened to this album all the way through, just like IKSSE3. I cannot really recall much love or hate for any of the songs on this album, very much unlike the other albums where I either despise some of the songs or I really really really love them. With that said, I know that there are songs on IKSSE3 that I just do not like period, whereas at least on SSTB I know I have grown to like majority of the songs and do not particularly dislike any of them.

Honestly the worst part of the album for me is the song 'Neverender' which is strange given that some of their tours are titled Neverender, so Claudio and the band love this song to a certain extent (there are multiple songs where the band and I seem to disagree on whether we should like them or not). The instruments start out making it sound like this is going to be a tough, aggressive song, but really it's just sappy mentality about a boy addressing his parents and his life in a dark moment. This is the most high-school sounding song from the band at a time where they really weren't too far gone from high school, so at least the lyrics and the mentality are more forgiveable here than in 'You've Got Spirit, Kid'. The only other element of the album that really bugs me is the line 'Come know me as God' from 'Delirium Trigger', but at least the rest of the song contains fun guitar licks.

I love the rapid pace of '33', it's like driving in a getaway car. 'Time Consumer' is a great intro that provides a little insight into the sci-fi storyline and, while not necessarily an anthem like the title track on the second album, it gets the listener in a pumped up rocking mood. 'Junesong Provision' is an early example of Coheed's experimentation with multi-layered songs and differing time signatures. The opening song, the title track of the album, is an instrumental piano ballad that in a cool way sounds like it's coming from a phonograph or an old timey radio. Most of the other songs are enjoyable to listen to in their own right, though don't necessarily stand out as separate entities much. However, they are much more rocking and a lot more fun than the average song on IKSSE3.

Demos: The demos are worth mentioning here more for how they impacted the rest of Coheed's music and discography much more so than what they sound like. There's two types of demos on this album, or rather the rerelease of the album since the original release starts with the title track and ends with 'God Send Conspirator'.

The first type of demo is the acoustic version of a song on the album. This is mainly just Claudio singing and playing guitar himself, composing and mixing early versions of 'Junesong Provision' and 'Everything Evil'. These types of demos show up later in Coheed's career and on Youtube you can find acoustic Claudio-ized versions of 'Favor House Atlantic' and 'Always and Never/Welcome Home' amongst other things. These types of demos are much more interesting to me than what Coheed has done in the latter part of their career, where they compose nearly completed versions of each song on the album and try to sell it to their audience as a special treat at a special price. In fact, the acoustic songs are so well done that I've been waiting years for Coheed to put out a specifically acoustic music album.

The second type of demo found on SSTB is the hidden gem songs that didn't make the cut on album release. 'Elf Tower New Mexico' is one that was actually written in a previous life, before Coheed and Cambria was the official band name rather than Shabutie, and while it sounds like it has connections with the sci-fi story, it ultimately doesn't, BUT this song is done by the full band on the album, which is made more intriguing when after many many years of ignoring it, Claudio reluctantly played the song acoustically live with Travis as an encore special for one tour and that simple acoustic version is so much better (find the Youtube video)! 'IRO-bot' is the other random demo, a hidden track trick that Coheed replicated with '21:13', and exemplifies both Claudio's prowess at composing and mixing songs by himself as well as showcasing how cool it sounds in full band electronic form years later for the very first Neverender tour.

3. Year of the Black Rainbow

Surprise! This album is usually found at the bottom of most other Coheed album rankings. The argument is that there was too much technical production (what I would call studio magic) and the songs did not sound like signature Coheed songs established beforehand. I will admit that there definitely was a lot of manipulation by the producers and engineers of the album, but I would argue that there is still some of the best rock music that Coheed has put together on this album. Plus, given that Claudio in an interview said that he was at a dead end when it came to writing music for this album, and it was only by working with these particular people that he was able to put these songs together, I think we got a fun, fantastic turnout.

My favorite song on the album, and another Top 10 song on my favorite Coheed songs list, is 'The Shattered Symphony'. It's another great song to drive to, it has all of the heaviness and guitar growls that I love in Coheed's music, and the sound actually matches the pain found in the lyrics. 'Guns of Summer' gets some criticism from others for its crazy blend of drums and electronic noise, but man is it fast, groovy, and maybe the closest to a Mars Volta song that Coheed has created.

'World of Lines' and 'The Broken' are the kind of songs you enjoy experiencing live but also provide that hard rock style that Coheed is good at. Even the strange sounds found on 'In the Flame of Error' and 'Where Skeletons Live' (This album has some of the most interesting song titles in this band's repertoire) remind the listener of Claudio's signature high vocal powers and the fast, funky pacing in the instruments that are classic Coheed sounds

The opening song, 'One', beats out 'The Reaping' for the worst intro song just because at least 'The Reaping' actually has rhythm, lyrics, and instruments instead of just atmospheric noise. 'Far' is like the background song of some sci-fi movie where the hero stares off into space, deeply contemplating his lovely lady off somewhere in the distance, it's just that cheesy and cliche romantically and sonically.

'Pearl of the Stars' is better in its demo form, faster paced with less electric distortion to distract you. Sure, it's still the signature acoustic ballad on a Coheed album, but we already had one cheesy romantic ballad on this album already and that moved faster than this snail of a song. And boy oh boy, 'Made Out of Nothing (All That I Am)' is definitely in my Top 10 worst Coheed songs list. Instead of some self-effacing, self-examination done in an enjoyable way, Coheed creates an awful din with clangy cymbals, drawn out guitar moans, and a character so down on himself that he has to call out for immediate help out of hopelessness.

Demos: If there was a certain pattern or style to this juncture of Coheed's career in terms of their sound and their writing, it's exemplified in these demos. 'Chamberlain' is like what would happen if Muse's 'Stockholm Syndrome' was created by Avenged Sevenfold instead, and this song highlights the gruff, heavy side of Coheed's style. 'Lost Shephard' showcases the groovy rock that combines with fast pace and sci-fi storytelling. 'Hush' is the romantic song that attempts and fails at romance because it's just too heavy instrumentally and too cliche lyrically, making 'Here to Mars' sound and look much better by comparison.

2. The Afterman: Ascension

The titular track, 'The Afterman', may sound like just some bemoaning love ballad, but at least it taught 'Far' that if you put in some entertaining fingerpicking on the guitar that you can stay awake during such a song. 'Goodnight Fair Lady' tries to break the fourth wall and address the audience directly like some jazz rock lounge lizard, but it's hard to break the fourth wall over radio speakers, and it's hard to put yourself into an exotic adventure when the narrator suddenly addresses you as an observer. 'Key Entity Extraction II: HollyWood the Cracked' has a catchy guitar pace, and I get why the vocals are distorted but that distortion and some of the strange lyrics take some of the fun out of the song.

'Mothers of Men' is one of the most underrated Coheed songs to me, it's got a great sense of flow and has a fun rock attitude that isn't too intense and not too wimpy. 'Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute' tells a great story and feels just like a bout with a punching bag, where it starts slow to get warmed up before giving it a good taste, pausing for a moment, and then giving it all it's got in the end.

'Vic the Butcher' takes the psychotic aggression in 'Al the Killer' and gives the drums something fun to do along the way and adds even more anger to the vocals and guitar. 'Key Entity Extraction IV: Evagria the Faithful' is like a refreshing massage, a nice cool down period that snuggles you after the intensity of the previous two songs (HollyWood and Vic), and it provides a good blend of technological delight with atmospheric lyrics. 'Subtract' is both the acoustic ballad as well as the slow gentle tune that closes out the album, and yet it does its job of telling us that longing feeling that the singer has for the woman he's singing about and it isn't just white guy with acoustic guitar music for the sake of showing off but it utilizes the instrument to amplify the emotional impact of the words.

This is probably the shortest of the Coheed albums (unless you're like me and skip half of Descension) and yet it has so much variety in the song styles and textures.The last three songs are my personal favorite parts of the album because it shows that going from fast to slow pacing can work when done in an interesting way and their musicianship skills are incredibly highlighted in these moments.

1. Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness

This was the very first Coheed and Cambria album I purchased because I heard Welcome Home on Rock Band and I was blown away. This was also near the time where I was really digging into rock music as a teen and so the dark storyline, hard rocking sounds, and crazy tempos all hooked me in, placing Coheed and Cambria at the top of my list of best and favorite bands at the time.

I eventually came to call this album a great break-up album for people whose dating relationships just came to an end, but at first I didn't realize how angry and dark the lyrics really were. The tempo on some of these songs are upbeat, the vocals are soft and gentle from time to time, and sometimes you can even hear happiness in the tone of the song. Yet, there are other songs where the tempo is downbeat, the vocals are distorted and angry, and you can hear the sorrow in the tone, and they remind you that this was written by a young man recently heartbroken by the young woman he loved (though they eventually got back together, got married, and now have a son. So, now it's got to be awkward to sing some of these songs again).

'Keeping the Blade' is not actually done by the band, but by a string quartet, and it reworks some of the short piano ballads heard in the first two albums and it sets the tone and pace to remind you that this is an emotional journey about a fictionalized magic space war. 'Always and Never' is the real acoustic intro, and also let's you know that while the instruments sound happy, the lyrics are going to be dark and grim. Then we blast in 'Welcome Home', which actually isn't the best song on the album, but it gives everyone a taste of what the real strengths and sounds of Coheed and Cambria are.

'Ten Speed' is a fast pumping song that is both crazy because it's about a man talking to his imaginary demonic bicycle and it's also uncomfortable because it includes lyrics mentioning God's blood and burial. It's one of those songs that instrumentally sound great but lyrically are awkward. After that is 'Crossing the Frame' which, much like 'The Shattered Symphony' and 'Mothers of Men', is a hidden gem of Coheed greatness often ignored and forgotten because it is not spectacularly extravagant but it is sufficiently groovy and satisfies the cravings for good guitar work. Then comes the blend of reality and fantasy in prog rock form in the song 'Apollo 1: The Writing Writer' in which the creator of the Amory Wars story is ripping into his ex something fierce, but instrumentally things start off slow and build up into a rock riff.

'Once Upon  Your Dead Body' is one of those songs that sound sentimentally happy in the instruments but in the lyrics are depressing and bitter. And then we're treated to the romantic acoustic ballad in the Coheed album formula in 'Wake Up' which for the most part actually does what it's supposed to do by stating the writer's love for his woman in his own unusual way and allows the audience to relate on an emotional level while being serenaded by the gentle guitar work and soft thudding drums. And then we swing back into confusion mode with 'The Suffering' which again sounds happy instrumentally and sad lyrically, but this time with a little more desperation and desire instead of anger and madness.

'The Lying Lies and Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court' is the weakest link on the album and is in my Top 5 Least Favorite Coheed Songs list. Its main crime is just being terribly boring and annoying. I don't jive with the chords that were chosen for the lead guitar, the vocals bounce back and forth between being soft whispers and dragged out howls, and rather than sounding like good structured prog rock there's just unorganized noise going on with the rest of the instrumentals, not to mention there's nothing really engaging and fun about the lyrics. Then there's 'Mother May I' which actually has an organized structure and funky groovy while being lyrically interesting if not confusing and smoothly appealing overall. And at least it actually builds up between the soft whispers and the loud vocalizations in that song!

And now we finally come to the main event, perhaps the best set of songs that Coheed and Cambria has ever written. It's a near 30 minute progressive rock suite of mega-layers, time signature changes, and inspiring madness. The Willing Well Series. It's hard to really describe most of these songs and what makes them so good other than they perfectly demonstrate the complexity of the band's instrumental skills as well as actually tell a strange yet compelling storyline throughout the whole series.

'Fuel for the Feeding End' is perhaps the most basic of the quartet, or at least it's the model song to demonstrate what exactly I mean by all the weird time signatures and multiple layers to the songs. 'From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness' may be the very best, I mean the VERY BEST, Coheed song written when it comes to the complexity of the layers and time signatures and at first catches you off guard lyrically but then pulls you in when things get crazy.

 'Apollo II: The Telling Truth' is essentially a reprise of the Apollo I song though some of the lyrics have changed AND they add in some throwbacks to material both instrumentally and lyrically found in the previous two albums that surprisingly fits sonically, not to mention it's an intriguing storytelling tool to recap and reevaluate what's all happened in the story thus far. And finally finally come to a head with 'The Final Cut' which is where the bitter break-up heartache stuff really resonates the most. The lyrics are dastardly and yet short, they're sweetly mournful, and soon they make way for some epic guitar solos and an ending that almost makes me cry. Then just before the album goes back to the beginning they throw in a playful little modern bluegrass take on 'Bron Yr Aur Stomp' by Led Zeppelin.

So if it's so dark, crazy, and bitter, why do I like this album so much? I think the rest of the rankings before this album can clarify that answer. I like that the band can create songs that are 8+ minutes with a variety of time signatures, tones, and textures. I like how Claudio incorporates his real life with a fictional story and somehow still make an emotional and mental connection for me, the listener. I like that they can compose some lighthearted, happy sounding music that doesn't sound overly cheesy and that Claudio can write lyrics that are not only poetic but have a mature, emotional depth to them as well. I like how definitively rock'n'roll the drums, bass, and guitars sound while allowing the technology of the time to highlight and boost the power of those instruments. It's not an album that is ordinary, nor do you see many bands trying to produce an album that replicates the complexity of this album's textures. Heck, even Coheed hasn't been able to create an album on par with this one, even though they've been trying for over a decade now.