IN KEEPING SECRETS OF SILENT EARTH - 3

Let me say that this band did excite me a bit a while ago. I saw their show and they made a very good performance. A couple of their songs, although poppy, seemed to hold some substance with me, despite their simplicity. All I'm trying to say is that I respect this band a bit for what it's trying to do. However, a lot of their music is very boring to me. They do have a tendency to try and experiment, but they slip up and end up creating average music. However, I like to think of them as a good alternative band, as opposed to a bad alternative rock band.

This album, in my opinion, is a great one in terms of alternative rock. It got quite a few repeated listenings the first time I got it, and there's a few gems in here amongst the sea of generic rock.

First off is the album intro, The Ring in Return, which exists more for story purposes than for musical purposes, because it's mostly a couple of bars on orchestral instruments repeated a few times. But that segues into In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth, which many consider the shining glory of the album. I find that's mostly because people think long songs are automatically great. This is not a really great long song. It's fine, but it's rather slow and repetitive, and it lacks any 'epic' quality than most people will say it has. For an eight minute song, it's rather boring.

The next two songs fall more along the lines of basic alternative rock. Though it's definetely a bit more exciting than some of C&C's output, neither are terribly great. Cuts Marked in the March of Men is a 6/8 song with some interesting guitar melodies in the background. Three Evils is a quick tempoed upbeat rock song, with not a lot of change. I guess it's a fun one, but the fadeout is dissapointing.

The next song, The Crowing, is in my opinion, one of the 2 great tracks on the album. It's a somewhat metallic alternative rock song, with a few interesting drums, and a couple of simple time changes. Mid song, things get a bit more interesting. The time changes get a bit more varied, and there are a couple of rather cool guitar runs. Things slow down, and then things get a bit slow, though ever slightly so atmospheric. Things build and build, until it crecendoes into a great energetic alternative rock song. Once things get up to speed, it becomes in my opinion one of the best pieces of music that basic alternative rock artists have ever come up with. Things pick up the pace, and Claudio's Dear ambelina, the prise wishes you to watch over me, swirls between other vocal lines. The song loses it's greatness with the ending, which alas, is another fadeout.

Next is Blood Red Summer. Nothing terribly exciting here, it's a hit single type song, and one for singing along to in the car, unfit for repeated listenings, or for progressive music tastes.

After that is The Velorium Camper suite. Why this is a suite, I have no idea. There seems to be no musical connection between the three. Other than for this type of music, a lot of the music is rather strange. Faint of Hearts has some unusual lyrics, weird riffs, and annoying background vocals. The Backend of Forever features dark muted guitar, and some unusual background vocals. Later the guitars go from muted to distorted and make the song heavier.

Part 3, Al The Killer, is definetely the strangest one of the 3. It has some weird dark vocals going along with Claudio's. When things change from 6/8, weird distorted vocals come in, and trade places along basic alternative. Then some strange guitar effect makes the song even stranger later. This is generally a weird track, not a proggy track.

Next is A Favor House Atlantic, which along with Welcome Home is the most recognizable Coheed and Cambria track. Simple and upbeat, this will be a winner with your pop music fans. I think I enjoy it a bit too, so it might just be a winner for prog fans too.

The Light and the Glass is a piece of music that I generally compare to Stairway to Heaven. It is the other one of the great tracks on the album. Like the latter, it starts as an acoustic ballad and gradually builds in intensity. It isn't as well structured as 'Stairway', it still relies a bit on the basic verses and chorus, but it builds rather well. Things get a bit heavy towards the end. It lacks a well composed solo like 'Stairway', but in the climax of the song, there's a bit of noodling, among the other instruments and the vocals. After everything falls away, keep listening for the main melody from The Ring in Return on what sounds like a music box.

I guess the Hidden track 21:13 deserves a bit of mention too. In my opinion, this is the most prog-like song on the album. Also in my opinion, this is one of the worst directionless pieces of music ever. It sounds like Coheed and Cambria took the worse aspects of Rush and tried to incorporate them into a Coheed Song. The time changes are unneccessary, and it's generally a boring track. It's just not that interesting, and it's rather annoying. Definetely doesn't deserve repeated listenings.

So there you have it. As you can see, this album is pretty generic for the most part. However, when this band gets creative, it's usually very good. For an alternative band to come up with something like this is definetely a good thing. Most prog fans won't enjoy it, some will think it's somewhat interesting. General rock fans will love it. It's nice music.