James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
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The official title of the album reads, Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV: Volume Two, No World For Tomorrow¸ however it is normally been referred to as just No World For Tomorrow. Coheed’s claim to fame comes from their lead singer’s, Claudio Sanchez, ability to hit incredibly high notes and the fact that all of their albums and lyrics revolve around a story created by Sanchez.
The story revolves around a married couple which the band is named after, their family, and a very complex and terribly confusing story line that deals with the fate of solar system. The tone of the album is set by the fact that this album fits in as the final chapter in the Coheed Saga.
Coheed and Cambria began as punk-emo rockers who appeared on the scene with progressive rifts that contained a basic sound that was very catchy to the ear. As they developed their sound, they became a lot heavier and technically sound, especially on their sophomore album In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3.
Coheed blends classic rock with the current emo genre in a way that transcends the stereotypical emo album.
On this album Coheed takes a very different direction to the first volume of the “Good Apollo” series. The first album put way too much emphasis on technicality and as a result many of the later tracks lost that catchy appeal many listeners fell in love with in their early days.
In many ways Coheed uses their template for an album, i.e. an acoustic intro (The Reaping), followed by an epic six minute rock opera (No World for Tomorrow), then a mixture of progressive (The End Complete), and pop songs (Feathers, The Running Free). They have also returned to the more raw emotive lyrics in songs, but have a sound that resembles a fusion of classic rock and progressive punk music rather than the quick and standard three chord progression.
The solos on the album shine through on every song and truly show the talents of Travis Stever and Claudio Sanchez. The solos are always crisp, fast, technical, but these long solos sacrifice the catchy essence that they had on previous albums.
The tracks are divided into two parts that are both precluded with epic and grandiose sounding introductions that compliment the following tracks. The Fall of House Atlantic is perhaps one of the most ambitious and epic sounding introductions to an album in a long time and sets up the final installment of the album perfectly.
Coheed blends classic rock with the current emo genre in a way that transcends the stereotypical emo album. They use this technique to create a rough sound, but with pop style choruses that keep many of the older fans interested. Mother Superior is another of the bands rock opera style songs and truly helps to get the album's message across of the final ending in an ambitious story.
In the end, Coheed’s attempt to blend new and old in many ways creates a solid album with a diverse range of sounds, but is held together very well by themes that spanned the length of their four full length albums. Similar Recommendations: The Mars Volta – Frances the Mute, Circa Survive – On Letting Go
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