Coheed And Cambria - Year of the Black Rainbow
Rating
RIYL
3Big Guys with High Pitched Voices
Circa Survive
Rush (doing something not quite so Rush-like)
Release Date
04/13/2010
Label
SonyTracklist
1. One2. The Broken
3. Guns Of Summer
4. Here We Are Juggernaut
5. Far
6. This Shattered Symphony
7. World Of Lines
8. Made Out 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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Once while visiting a local pub, a Decoy staffer was approached by two shady looking fellows who happened to know what publication this staff member worked for. They demanded that their crass voices be heard on a number of music related topics and would not take “no” for an answer. After telling them “no” anyway, the Decoy employee went about his life until a week later he received a polaroid of his grandmother & cat being held hostage and unspeakable acts being committed upon both (some were unto each other, by force of course). It was with this that the two heinous men began having their random submissions anonymously published under the moniker we affectionately refer to as “Two Guys, One Disc”. The grandmother & cat's status are still unknown to this day. This week, they apparently celebrate one week of sobriety by sending us their review of the new Coheed & Cambria. Below is their transmission:
Captain: What happens when Lost has another flash sideways and instead of Hurley becoming rich & famous by owning a chain of chicken restaurants, he instead became the writer of a rather loosely pieced together space opera backed by a series of prog-rock albums? Yes, you've guessed it, you've got what the kids nowadays refer to as Coheed & Cambria! Most anyone who takes the time to read a review of Coheed's newest album is already aware that their discs make up an ongoing story arc & that this “last piece” of the Armory Wars puzzle is technically the first (Think Star Wars where you really got started midway into the story and the origins get made up far after things are already running). There's a lot that could be said about the mythos surrounding the world of Coheed & Cambria, but let’s cut to the chase – how is the music this time around? A short answer, according to this individual, is “it's good”.
Tennille: I hate to say this (mainly because I love using the written word to rip you more orifices than an alien made of assholes), but you’re right: This is pretty good. But this is coming from someone who’s never been a huge fan of Coheed and Cambria, and thus my definition of a good Coheed album is, “has more than one or two awesome tracks sprinkled among heaps of mediocre, overproduced pop disguised a modern prog.” This may not be the masterpiece needed for space rock operas to be taken seriously, but it certainly isn’t horrible. If Year of the Black Rainbow hasn’t made a full-blown fan of me, it’s at least made me into a favorable onlooker.
Captain: The guys have managed to create an album that should appease most fans that haven't already written them off and possibly win back a few that had, so it’s good to hear they might be winning completely new ones too. The whole band, which now includes the addition of drummer Chris Penne, really stepped its game up from No World For Tomorrow. It successfully takes some of the raw elements that made Second Stage Turbine Blade such a fan favorite and combines it with some of the more poppy elements that made the two following albums more accessible to the masses. Rather than sounding like the album that theoretically should precede Second Stage, Black Rainbow would sonically fit better between it and In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth.
Tennille: Slow down! All that name-dropping is making me dizzy. But I think I agree with you again; the raw production, dark themes, and dramatic flourishes all work extremely well. I am not, however, overly fond of the poppy elements. Certain Coheed cuts have always sounded to me like cries for radio attention. On this CD, those songs are few and far between, which makes me happy.
Captain: The album does feature a couple sleeper songs, namely “Far” and “Made Out of Nothing (All That I Am)” - aka those radio-cries you mentioned, but even they have moments that make them excusable (not that bands can't do slow songs, those ballads just lack the conviction to feel wholly necessary on the record - “Pearl of the Stars” is another slower track but has enough guts in the performance to give it life even if it sounds more at home on Claudio's Prize Fighter Inferno project). Three cheers for run-on sentences justified by using parenthetical breaks! Seriously though, while the album takes a few listens to really grow & deliver its full payload, it actually does deliver. Songs like “Guns of Summer” and “World of Lines” really give this album weight to hold its own in their catalog. I'd call it the least experimental album they've put out since their initial release, but in a positive respect. It's as if they took some of the key elements from each album and tried to find a cohesive common ground between them all, though this does accomplish robbing the album of its own unique identity in a way. It’s great to have experimentation, of course, but I won’t complain if a band occasionally doesn’t feel they HAVE to drastically push their boundaries with every release in order to feel relevant and produce solid albums. I think it’s equally commendable for a band to be able refine their existing repertoire if they can manage to do so and not come out sounding stale or redundant.
Tennille: I fully endorse the use of run-on sentences in describing awesome songs like “World of Lines” and “Pearl of the Stars” (especially with the latter song’s sudden divergence in vocal style); the way they work together, however, is something I would not praise so cavalierly, because many of the tracks blend together a bit, making the album’s parts feel indistinct as a whole (which, as you said, seems like a sacrifice made for the sake of cohesiveness, but it shouldn’t kill the album’s individuality) – and while these problems don’t significantly damage my feelings about the album, they may very well keep me from coming back to Year of the Black Rainbow over and over again … and they’ll definitely keep it from acquiring a spot my year-end list.
Captain: So not many return visits, huh? Kinda like when you finally realized that Saks on 5th Ave wasn't actually a gay bar? Oh well. There might be a spot or two where a song might blend a little into the next, but I think most the songs stand apart well enough from the ones before or after it; of course, that's just me. I just found the album, as a whole entry, to not have as much its own distinctive voice among the other albums. Having said that, for every negative point I could make out of preconceived notions & expectations, I find myself being able to say two or three positive things. In the end, as a fan that came on with Good Apollo Part I and worked my way back, I'll always unfairly hold each release up to the sounds, feelings, and such that I associate with that initial exposure. This disc is definitely not that album, but as much as the fanboy in me wants to attack it for differences, the music-lover in me bitch-slaps the fanboy and tells him to be grateful for this entry in the band’s catalog. I think anyone that previously enjoyed Coheed and doesn't at least moderately like or respect this album either grew out of liking the style of music altogether (and only proclaims love for the SSTB album out of nostalgia’s sake) or have been let down by the band enough in the past that they aren't giving this album a fair shake. If this ends up being the last Coheed album, then I say they went out with a bang.
Tennille: Agreed. Wait, it might be their last album? I should pay more attention. At least now I can say I liked one of their albums, instead of always telling people that, “I like that one song off that one album they did.” It’s no fun when we agree like this – too amicable. But it’s nice to have solid music. I give this one 3.5 stars.
Captain: I know, what is this world coming to? First, last week we agreed you'd live a much happier, stress-free life if you'd just step on out of the closet and now this! Surely the streak will not continue for too long. With all the positive remarks I dropped, I'd probably be faulted if I gave this release anything less than 4 stars, so that is where my score will land – 4 stars.
Comments
Lehigh Valley, PA
I'm really confused by this...
San Diego, CA
Just so you know, Tennille is a woman.
Too old to bother, too young to give a shit.
Fishers, Indiana
Oh eff you, Captain. Far is easily the best song on this album.
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Illinois
in b4 this album sucks
i like it
last.fm/user/tragedyl0ve
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New York
I was hoping for a couple longer songs on this, but I am content with what they produced. "Here We Are Juggernaut" brought me back to their "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" days.
"If this is the state of my art,
Then I secede."
I won't lie, I lol'd at the first paragraph. Album ain't too shabby.
Beer Blog
West Haven, CT
Awful CD, great review.
The Cityscape Burns Brighter By The Hour.
Baltimore, MD
I tried to give this a fair try and listen, but I quickly realized that I've been over CoCa since after Second Stage Turbine and song or two from later releases. I think part of it is the style, but another thing is that I'm just sick of is the whole storyline aspect to each of their releases. I can understand why some would love this about CoCa as it plays like an epic novel, but I can't help feel that it's become somewhat kitschy. Also, Claudio's singing has become like nails-down-a-chalkboard aching.
Last.fm | RateYourMusic | 8tracks
Infinitely Inwards
bleh...mediocrity at it's most apparent.
Ever Forthright - Ever Forthright
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Aborted - Global Flatline
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Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind)The Crafty Ape
West Haven, CT
I get upset when I hear him sing on this CD.
The Cityscape Burns Brighter By The Hour.
PA
Tr000f.
Music Blog.
Depths blog. (my band)
Kansas
boooooooorrrrinnnnggg.
http://rateyourmusic.com/~benny06
Waterloo, Ontario
i love coheed but i just cant, for the life of me, get into a single song on this album.
Top Ten of 2009 http://www.decoymusic.com/users/3747/top_tens/2009
Colorado
I am a big Coheed fan, and I would have to say this is easily my least favorite album of theirs.
New Jersey
I liked Guns of Summer but it's really the only song on the album that caught my ear.
when i see it in your eyes
i just want to go blind
LOL - I'm still amused that I started off disliking the album somewhat and came around to actually liking it... but then again I tend to agree with exactly 8% of decoy listeners, so I guess its me, the reviewers, and like 5 other dudes that like it well enough.
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