IN KEEPING SECRETS OF SILENT EARTH - 3

Punk meets Prog? Maybe, but the result is fantastic.

Coheed and Cambria create here a dark atmosphere through the entire album. No song is "bad." By virtue of that, however, In Keeping Secrets of The Silent Earth: 3 is by no means a "Masterpiece of Progressive Music." Nice, catchy melodies and riffs combined with a rich, comic book-esque story line makes for a lot of music geek factor, but not a monstrous prog feeling. The prog feeling comes and goes. While songs like The Title Track and"The Crowing" Coheed and Cambria seem to be stepping out of the "Van's Warped Tour" fan base's music--- striving for something more. Easy to listen to songs, like "Blood Red Summer" and "A Favor House Atlantic" are very accessible- not always a bad thing-- but they get boring. As I mentioned, no song is bad, but no song is a true masterpiece of prog either. This is a nice, well written album with few flaws, but it falls short of the masterpieces of the year (De-Loused, To Watch the Storms, etc...)

Anywhere else, this album gets 5 stars. But ranking it on the basis of a prog necessity, it can't get any more than 4. The brilliant moments come and go, but the album holds strong when heard together. Far from a prog masterpiece, but definitely a nice addition.

First there was Yes, followed by Rush, then came Dream Theater, and now Coheed and Cambria.

It seems like each decade has it's high-pitched-heavy prog to add to the mix, and here we find the next step. Like it or not, where Yes fused with psychadelia, Rush fused with rock, Dream Theater fused with metal, C&C have fused with Emo and punk, and it's quite a mix. All in all the album has soundscapes reminicent of the modern music of the new millenium, with with a flavor of the good old stuff. Amung the mix is some great tracks, KEEPING SECRETS... itself is a powerhouse that clocks at 8 minutes, and while the bulk of the remaining tracks sit clamly at 3-4 minutes, the pseudo-epic VELOURIUM CAMPER takes up a nice 15 minutes in it's entirety (I just wish it was one track, not 3). the latter mentioned track is also the album's standout, well constructed with a nice amount of flowing speed changes. The album does have it's downsides, likely the biggest is that nostalgia is mostly absent, leaving us with a very emo sounding record, where the C&C's predicessors have followed closer in the prog footsteps. Don't get me wrong, this is a theory that bands SHOULD be taking; new, fresh music. I just don't think emo is the right vein in which to pursue it.

I guess I kind of went on a tangent there.

Back to the album. For bringing prog closer to the mainstream of the new music machine C&C deserves some credit, I just hope their latter albums become more, well, progressive, but this is just a personal taste. 3.5 stars.

This album is by far my favorite of the 3 currently out. The main reason is that I think this has the highest concentration of great songs, without anything that screams filler or should've been left on the cutting room floor. Although I don't deny the progressiveness of C&C, I really like their songwriting, hooks, and layering much more than whether or not they're playing in odd times or singing about complex storylines. And this album has a ton of great hooks and songwriting. Even the "radio songs" of Blood Red Summer and A Favor House Atlantic are much better than The Suffering, Wake Up, etc. These hook-laiden songs also are placed well to keep the album fresh during its flow. The music sounds like a cross of emo, punk, metal, and prog, and unfortunately, I think the emo influence turns people off. Overcome superficial elitism and you will be rewarded.

Highlights are the Title Track in it's entirety (it's probably my favorite C&C song--shouting along with the crowd at a concert is forever emedded in my mind), the coupling of fun music and extremely dark lyrics on Three Evils, The Crowing (probably my 2nd favorite C&C song), the end of the Crowing (deserving separate mention), and 2113.

I can listen to this whole album without being tempted to ever skip a track. I would recommend this album over their others for the curious. Although it's not as "progressive" as Good Apollo, I just think it's much more listenable on a track-for-track basis, and therefore their best, IMO. 4.5 stars.

Great album. As the others said, punk meets prog. The outstanding tracks are the definately the longer ones:

In Keeping is an epic, and would be amazing live with the chanting at the end of the song. The Crowing has several shifts and changes throughout the song to keep it more than interesting. The Light And The Glass (which was once going to be on the soundtrack for Spiderman, I think) is simply superb. The vocals are very emotional here, and the guitars and drum complement well.

The hidden track, 2113, is the best track on the album, which is funny because Claudio meant it just to be a little fun, experimental track for them where they can mess around with riffs. (huge paraphrase there). But, it turns out the most cohesive song on the LP, with reprise on Time Consumer off Second Stage towards the end. Beautiful.

In the liner notes Josh Eppard the drummer and brother of Joey (the singer / songwriter for the band 3) says "And how could I forget Mr. Aidella (9th grade student advisor) who told me that I would never amount to anything playing music and that I should be a male nurse or something. F**k you !" I agree with the others who have reviewed this record that say this sounds like progressive punk music. Not as "noisy" or complex as THE MARS VOLTA but it is more melodic and easier to digest.

It opens with a PINK FLOYD-like moment as we can hear the phone ring and someone walking towards it to pick it up. It then gets orchestral sounding with piano before it stops and we hear what sounds like a nucleur explosion. The title track is up next and it is by far the best track other than the hidden song. The guitar style is in the Post-Rock vein as the other guitarist grinds away over top. We then get an explosion of sound. Claudio sings a memorable line "Man your battle stations" as a nice heavy soundscape is heard throughout. I really like Claudio's vocal melodies, they are so well done. Great tune ! "Cuts Marked In The March Of Men" features some good heavy rhythms, great drumming and vocal melodies.

"Three Evils(Embodied In Love And Shadow)" is an uptempo, catchy tune with more fantastic vocal melodies. There are some brief death-like vocals. "The Crowing" is a good track that opens with the sound of rain and a spooky atmosphere. Riffs come in followed by vocals and a grinding guitar melody. More atmosphere 3 1/2 minutes in with some steller drumming after 5 minutes. "Blood Red Summer" is a punk influenced tune, maybe a little immature sounding in my opinion. The vocal melodies are a nice 3 minutes in. "The Camper Velourium" suite is divided into 3 sections of over 15 minutes of music. The third part is my favourite, especially the more uptempo sections of it. "A Favour House Atlantic" has lots of energy while "The Light & The Glass" starts off quietly with acoustic guitar and fragile vocals. The sound gets fuller 2 minutes in until we have riffs a minute later. A calm section doesn't last long before the power returns.The last vocal line is where the name of their next album would come from.

The hidden track is called "2113" in reference to Claudio always hearing how he sounds a little like Geddy Lee from RUSH. And it is also the longest song on the album, and the best in my opinion. It is also instrumentally a lot like a RUSH song although it's no "2112". Still it has crisp drumming with time changes and a real nod to Lifeson 5 1/2 minutes in with the guitar melody. Nice. 3.5 stars.

This is a good sign seeing this band on Archives (at least in Related genre). It means that we don’t lock ourselves in Retro-Prog and agree that Prog hadn’t died on December, 31, 1979. Prog is progressing, taking new forms and expressions, blending with other styles and genres, and sometimes the result can be amazing. In CaC case I should say COULD be amazing.

COHEED AND CAMBRIA play some kind of a EmoProg (?), with clear influences from METALLICA and pop-punk. What makes them different from many other bands is their level of musicianship, recognizable vocals (can annoy others but I like them) and unconventional (in Emo world ;) ) way of arranging and songwriting (long tracks, numerous tempo changes and wide usage of complex signatures). On the other hand, CaC fails to hold my attention during the whole album. They sound very samey on this release (as well as on the previous one), and I choose to listen to some songs from it (“In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth- 3”, “The Crowning”), not the whole thing which I’ve listened to 4 or 5 times. And it was hard task, believe me! Somewhere in the middle attention slips away, all songs ae becoming very close to each other and only epic (split into 3 separate tracks) and closing “The Light and the Glass”, a masterpiece in its own, made me awaken again.

I believe that CaC have a huge potential. They’re pretty popular and it helps to enlarge the amount of attention given to Prog in some way, and this is positive. They are able to overcome those flaws they have for now and become more challenging and fascinating…if they want to.

The essential COHEED album if your a huge fan like me. Along with SSTB, and their latest masterpiece, No World For Tommarow.

Opening with a phone call and a amazing intro. It cuts away and you hear "Good apollo, Where do i begin". Immediately kicking off the Title track and best coheed song ever. In keeping secrets of silent earth 3. A battle is raging and you can hear it in the lyrics and the music. Claudios amazing vocals are as usual extremely impressive and emotional here. With huge sing along parts such as "man your own jackhammer" Its an amazing live song as well. Some of the other stand out tracks are. The Crowing, Three evils, the velorium camper trilogy, and the light and the glass.

There is no filler on this album. Every song fits perfectly. The actual concept of the album, well, all their albums. Shines through here. The lyrics are amazing. Shining at all times.

If you have to get one coheed album. Get this, or sstb. You wont be dissapointed.

This is not really a progressive-rock album but may be a related one.

The album starts off with its best song, the tile track, which is full of progressive elements and makes us believe that we're in for a great ride. Sadly, things go downhill afterwards.

I see two problems with this album: one, the voice is not original. To be honest, I don't know which band came first, COHEED AND CAMBRIA or THE MARS VOLTA, but whichever came second, its vocalist emulates the other one to almost a copy/paste degree. I can't see many differences between the two. That overly-exaggerated, punk-ish, teen-angst-like vocal tone of both bands is impossible to forget.

The second element I dislike about this album is the fact that, after track 3, it becomes an emo-pop-rock- punk record, with barely a prog element. Most songs after track three are short, with very similar riffs and vocals and choruses, and all of them sound like a collection of tracks taken from MTV's current hit program. All is useless energy, repetitive music, with anger and desperation that serves no purpose. Maybe it's my disdain for emo-punk music that makes me judge these tracks a little bit harsher than they deserve, but I just feel dissapointed when I hear an album with such a terrific start get lost in the midst of prom-night-party music.

The musicians are very capable and this band could have a lot of potential if they got rid of the emo sound. I'll give the album 3 stars because of the promise it shows and because of its redeeming features. But COHEED AND CAMBRIA could be much better than it actually is. At least for my taste.

After a very satisfying debut, Coheed and Cambria return with an almost 70-minute album, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, complete with high-budget production, and even some speculation that it syncs with a Lord of the Rings movie (it's no Dark Side of the Moon, but there are some neat, mostly lyrically, things here and there). The gritty sound is gone, and a crisp prog rock/metal/pop sound trancends here. For brevity's sake, as well as my time's, I will avoid doing the track-by-track analysis.

The album opens with a telephone ring, footsteps, and the sound of a woman picking up the phone and saying hello, and then immediately moves into an orchestral version of a motif that was introduced on the band's debut. After some noises that resemble a gust of wind and fire, the sound fades as we here a man say Hello Apollo, where should I begin? And thus begins the third chapter in the saga. This album has some killer, dynamic mini-epics: the title track, "The Crowing," "The Light & the Glass," and "21:13," which is this album's bonus track. These pieces show off the band's songwriting abilities while avoiding pretention and technical bravado. These guys can do it, but they show great restraint here. It would be nice to see some flair, but we have other bands for that. Coheed and Cambria puts emphasis on melody on top of a solid rhythmic foundation. We see some overt pop songs in "Three Evils," "Blood Red Summer," and "A Favor House Atlantic," but they are all quite good songs, and in the context of the rest of the album, as well as the concept, they help create a diverse yet coherent record. Three of the tracks in the second half of the album are part of a mini-suite called "The Velorium Camper." The tracks don't go together musically, but the purpose of the suite is to focus the group of songs on a subplot. This type of structure will appear at the end of each of their next two records. They are unified only by their lyrics. The first song is a 70s rock song complete with cowbell, the second is a song that is dark but melodic, and the third is a melodic punky song again with a dark feel. The other track, "Cuts Marked in the March of Men," is a short but well constructed song.

The key to enjoying this band might very well be to take them as they are and not what you hope/expect them to be. They are melodic, dynamic and memorable. Even if they did have the potential to do more, this remains to be a fantastic album in itself. Maybe they will evolve into that band we all see in them, but that doesn't make this album bad by any means. I personally think the variety of styles works for them, and in fact if I want a fix of well constructed pop music, I can get it here among other great songs. I would rather listen to these pop songs than a Rush pop song any day. Great stuff start to finish. I'll give it 4 1/2 stars again, but this time I'm rounding up.

At first, I had my doubts about the quality of Coheed & Cambria's music because of their very modern sound. I liked them, but I never thought I would be as much of a fan as I am now. When I found out that all of their albums are concept albums based off of a graphic novel series written by Claudio Sanchez, the lead singer, himself, I was immediately intrigued and wanted more. I went out to a local music store and purchased this album. Yes, I realized I skipped the first chapter of the story but...it was a used CD, I can't pass up a deal like that. Anyway, when I came home and popped in the CD and it started playing. When the first track The Ring Returns played, I realized that despite their modern sound, they are Progressive to some degree, which relieved me. Me being a huge fan of Prog Rock, I really enjoyed and appreciate the really proggy intro into the album. The first track of the album In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 didn't disappoint my progressive expectations either. It firsts starts out sounding like a typical rock song, obviously because of the modern sound. But later on you start realizing that there is more depth to the song then it sound. It begins to sound a lot more epic and grand than a typical rock song. Then finally at the end it pauses for a bit, Than kicks back in loud with epic orchestral vocals and powerful singing from Claudio. By the time the song was over, I pretty much kicked all doubts in their progressive abilities and sat back and enjoyed the album. Like all albums, some songs are better than others, but over all none of the songs disappointed me really. Even the more pop sounding songs like Blood Red Summer and A Favor House Atlantic were pleasing to the ears and sort of, in a way, gave you a break from the more serious sounding songs and gave you something nice to tap your foot to and sing along. By the time the album has finally finished, I was completely pleased with my purchased and now, I can truly say I'm a fan of this band. It satisfies my hunger for both progressive rock and modern rock. I still hope that C&C will someday take the jump to full on progressive, because they sure as hell have the ability to do it, but I am happy with them either way.

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.

'In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth' - Coheed & Cambria (8/10)

Coheed & Cambria aren't the only band to have a foot in both the 'emo' and prog genres of music. Bands like The Fall Of Troy write music that both appeals to the 'scene' crowd and uses complex musical techniques. While I don't necessarily consider Coheed & Cambria to be an emo band persay, this album definately has the most traits of being 'emo' of all of their music. Songs like 'Favor House Atlantic' reflect an inate awareness of the crowds that make money, but 'In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth' is far from being a mainstream record. There is enough solid music on this album to appeal to many prog fans. Although a prog fan might enjoy the 'Good Apollo' duology more than this record, it's a very sensible record that combines catchy hooks with some solid guitar work and some progressive approachs to songwriting.

The song that actually got me into this band in the first place is on this album, and might be why 'In Keeping Of Silent Earth' is my most listened to album by Coheed. I can remember listening to 'The Crowing' on ProgArchives quite a long time ago, and recognizing the talent of the band almost instantly. It is the most progressive track on the album, and is something of a mini-suite, a la 'Paranoid Android,' or 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' It's one of Coheed & Cambria's best songs in my opinion, and demonstrates their compositional talent very well. The title track is also very epic and cool, and will also appeal to prog fans above the rest.

While there's not enough time to review every song on this album, each song is sure to bring something of it's own to the table. 'In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3' is a very solid album, and although I can't imagine all prog fans loving the rather emo-styled music, that isn't to say that it lacks inspiration. Four stars.

There is only a few albums I would consider giving a 5 star rating, but this album is in the top 20 of all of my albums. Coheed and Cambria has become one of my favourite bands. Discovered by accident a couple years ago, but have since that grown to become one of the most played bands.

It is diffucult to pin point what it is that makes C&C so special. Maybe it is the distingtive voice of Sanchez, or maybe it is the fantastic ways they manage to put together their songs. No matter what it is it works for me. As the rating should reveal this is a highly recomended album.

Writing this review in retrospect of how the last 2 albums were made makes it even more difficult to put this album into a genre. If epic was a genre, then this album would be the most essential piece. The prog meat of this album, in my opinion, is the Velorium Camper series, which includes haunting lyrics and moving breakdowns. Though decidedly more prog than the rest of albums, this album also shows influences from many genres, from the pop-punk anthemic catchiness of Blood Red Summer and A Favor House Atlantic to the post-hardcore rock of the title track and Cuts Marked in the March of Men. The vocal stylings of Claudio are truly a spectacle that put you through emotions ranging from distress to aww in the spectrum of the music and the story that it is conveying. For prog fans that are looking for music with a little extra I recommend In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3, an album which has earned its way into my heart and my top ten albums of all time. Key tracks in this album include IKSSE3 and the Crowing. Key factors in this album that make it outstanding are the perfectly place, yet not overdone leads of Travis Stever, the complex drum and bass parts that help give this band a truly prog feel, and lastly the balls out vocals of Claudio Sancez that are never sub-par and are always filled with emotion. Rush fans should be pleased with the track 2113, a medley that is filled with post-hardcore prog goodness.

Coheed and Cambria is a band that during a very concentrated time dominated the discussions about music among me and my friends. Was it emo, was it heavy metal, was it progressive? The opinions were as varied as there were people and although they all varied there was common ground in all of them; everyone liked Coheed and Cambria in their own way and held a specific album to be the superior of the then three releases.

For me it was always "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3"(IKSSE) that stood out from the rest. While the later releases traced their way to a more progressive rock base and steered clear of the emo that lurks beneath the surface on both this and "The Second Stage Turbine Blade", IKSSE had a sense of "trueness" to it that none of their releases to date share. Yes, structurally and musically the later works of Coheed and Cambria are more mature, but IKSSE feels like the most "real" of all their albums.

The music reminds me of Rush before breaking free of their inherent early Led Zeppelin-like sound, and not just because Geddy Lee and Claudio Sanchez share that high pitched screechy tone of voice-- it's the sound of a band in transition; the creaking as its bones grow.

I can't, hand on heart, say that there aren't tracks that bother me on IKSSE or that it is not sometimes almost a straight out mediocre emo record, but, and this is a great but(hehe), there is much going on underneath it all.

If you like Coheed and Cambria you will already own this album and love it for its highlights and perhaps hate it for its weak parts. If you don't you most likely aren't familiar with the band or have no love for them. I think I'm stuck somewhere in between, I'm neither a fan nor do I dislike them, I think I value them as somewhat of a "filler" band with little relevance to the big picture of music today. However I still enjoy a listen of one of their albums now and again.

IKSSE has the most memorable melodies and vocals of all the records in my opinion. Summarizing this band perfectly before they began to cover the flaws and edges with drapes of progressive rock.

3/5

This album is definitely where Coheed decided to become progressive, if thats really a decision. There are so many epis tracks on this album including, The light and the glass, the bonus track 21:13 (don't even try and tell me they weren't influenced by Rush), and of course the title track! This album is very strong, and overall prolly their most progressive work! The Velorium Camper suite is also very epic! There are a couple mainstream pop/rock songs, but I think that is Coheed's allure! They have truly mastered the ability to infuse progressive musicality into mainstream music! So Thank you Coheed! 5 stars for sure! Coheed is the gateway into prog for mainstream fools and thus should definitely be known!

A little bit over poppy in some cases and a touch of emo, but i still find this to be a good album overall. The opening two tracks are some of the best work that Coheed and Cambria has ever pulled off in both terms of instrumentation and having a great opening for a concept album. In keeping secrets may be Coheed's clearest story in the armory saga. I find that the albums story flows very clearly and I enjoy many of the songs. The bonus track is a nice plus and the closing track has some of the most interesting lyrics that Claudio has ever written. Over all the album is not for everyone, if you don't like high pitched vocals and some emo lyrics than you may not enjoy this album, but despite those I enjoy the album over all, I even like a favor house Atlantic. The album definitely has some prog trademarks; technical skill, time signature changes, interesting breakdowns and buildups, a unique concept and a well crafted story that can stand on its own but also fits into the whole coheed saga very well.

Again, i love this band and this albums no different. This is the start of them beginning to loose their 'emo' tag and this time playing around with prog..pop..punk (its an excellent mix trust me). As per the musicmanship is second to none and production is spot on, the songs are a lot stronger and a lot more catchy than their debut with the epic opening title track IN KEEPING SECRETS OF SILENT EARTH and closing track THE LIGHT AND THE GLASS as well as the prog masterpieces THE CROWING and 21:13 being the standouts. Caludio's voice has really started to mature with this album as well going higher then ever before, an allround improvement i'd say;

The Ring in Return - 8/10 In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 - 10/10 Cuts Marked in the March of Men - 9/10 Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow) 9/10 The Crowing - 10/10 Blood Red Summer - 10/10 The Velourium Camper I: Faint of Hearts - 10/10 The Velourium Camper II: Backend of Forever - 9/10 The Velourium Camper III: Al the Killer - 9/10 A Favor House Atlantic - 9/10 The Light & the Glass - 10/10 21:13 - 10/10

My Conclusion? This being a bit of an improvement on the debut both albums are fantastic and proof that great progressive bands can be formed today that can really mix it up with some of the big hitters of prog, a masterpiece and the start of Coheed and Cambria's reign of prog.

In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 -- Coheed and Cambria

With their sophomore effort, Coheed and Cambria strike gold. With In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, Coheed evolve their sound to a wholly appealing and intriguing formula. With tighter compositions, better instrumentation, more complexity, and brilliant vocals, this is Coheed and Cambria at their best. ///

The album starts with the instrumental, string-arranged "The Ring in Return." This instrumental is meant to bridge the time-gap between this album and Coheed's debut album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade. Coheed and Cambria's albums all tell a specific part of a large sci-fi epic called The Amory Wars, created by lead-vocalist, guitarist, composer and lyricist Claudio Sanchez. Track two is perhaps the most powerful song of the album, the title track. Starting slowly, and then building up, this a powerful, dark and heavy piece. The rest of the album is extremely enjoyable and executed very tastefully. About 75 % through the album, there is a suite called The Velourium Camper, comprised of three separate tracks. The great thing about this album is that it's always changing and evolving; quirky one minute, heavy the next, dark and brooding after those. The lyrics are quite emotional, despite being confusing to follow (because they coincide with The Amory Wars storyline). Though the lyrics are almost impossible to follow if you don't have the accompanying story in arm's reach, it's easy to interpret them however the listener would like to, which is why they are so brilliant.

The music of Coheed and Cambria on this specific album is a perfect blend of punk, post-punk, hard rock, metal, progressive rock and pop. Sanchez sings in a very high- pitched, non-falsetto voice, and this can take some getting used to. The drummer and bassist work extremely well together, creating heavy and concise rhythms, reminiscent of John Paul Jones and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. The guitarists, Claudio Sanchez and Travis Stever, are quite skilled and this is apparent in their wonderful guitar harmonies and their impressive meshing of lead and rhythm tracks.

Overall, this is a perfect album and one of the most unique albums I've ever heard. I highly recommend this to anyone who is fond of artistic, unique, and emotionally driven modern rock.

Standout Tracks: "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" "Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)" "The Crowing" The Velourium Camper suite "A Favor House Atlantic" "[Track 23], aka "21:13"

5 Stars.

This being their second album, Coheed show a natrual progression from their debut. And to be honest, it favours it in many points.

I think this album is also way up in my list of top 161 albums, so you can tell what mark I'm already gonna give it. But but don't worry, their is reasoning behind this. I've heard this album many many times, wheter it being just taking it and listening it, having it on as background music, constantly watching it on Neverender, playing these songs, singing these songs, talking about these songs...it's just one of those albums that will always, and has been a part of my life for 7 years (which feels along time cause I'm only 18).

Oddly enough, this is the album that sort of got me into the band, even though it was my second album that I had bought from these guys, but I'll get to that later.

This I think is their most consistent album, where if you were trying to get someone into the band, you would give them this album, and you can easily see why. The songs are catchy and infectious, yet have a lot of prog in them, with also ashes of emo and the post hardcore sound that they had from their debut. But the songs at times take on bigger forms, where you listen to a 6-9 minute epic, and wonder why the song just flys by.

The songs are also written with a non standard strophic structure, where verses and chorus' don't really apply, and anything can happen at any moment, and will easily suprise you. And musicianship wise the album is tight as could ever be, and maybe this is one of their strongest points of songwriting. The lyrics are also more understandable, better written and easier to understand. The vocals I think are Claudio's strongest (although I do prefer how he used vocals in Good Apollo).

The only flaws I can really see is the production. It's not the best, especially compared to their later releases, but to be honest, I think it adds an added domestic feel to the album, which really highlights the songs. The snare at times can be a bit clangy, but at least its not St. Anger.

1. The Ring In Return - A nice intro, with some nice piano and synth arrangements. 9/10

2. In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3: EPIC AS HELL!!! I remember when I used to play this song back in my band days (I was 15 :D), and it really was an amazing feeling you got when playing it, and singing it really wrecks your throat. The song is just an instant epic classic, and any prog fan should agree. 10/10

3. Cuts Marked In The March Of Men - This song is a bit underlooked when compared to the rest of the album, but to be honest it's such an amazing song. Great chorus and an amazing arrangement. Quite anthemic as well. 10/10

4. 3 Evils (Embodied In Love & Shadow) - This song is so happy, yet the lyrics deal with suicide...it's quite a paradox, but it works so well. Such a great song, and it really progresses throughout, and builds up to an amazing pop filled climax, with a good bit of post hardcore trhoughout too. 10/10

5. The Crowing - If I had a pound for everytime I've had to play this song, I would be a very rich man. Even though, when hearing and playing it so many times, it kind of looses track with you, when you come back to it, you really need to revel in its glory. Especially the ending, which I heard from many people, desrcibing it as "one of the most epic and uplifiting moments of a song...EVER" 10/10

6. Blood Red Summer - I think I remember seeing this video when I was younger, and to be honest I really like it, and the song. It's just such a catchy song, and the chorus is beautiful, especially with the backing vocals. The lyrics are also some of Claudio's best in my opinion. 10/10

THE CAMPER VELORIUM 7-9 THE FIRST SAGA HAHA!

7. Faint Of Hearts - This is a very happy and joyful song, yet its about a man seducing a gun...crazy as hell, but its just so great of a song. 10/10

8. Backend Of Forever - A quite dark song, with odd lyrics. The song is very atmospheric too, with eerie synths adding to the dark tone...oh and some prety cool drumming, especially the faster bits at the end. 10/10

9. Al The Killer - A more chatoic song...that kind of leaves you perplexed after listening to it. I love how the vocals are used too, and the lyrics are odd...to say the least, especially the stuff about white girls. 10/10

10. A Favour House Atlantic - This was my first Coheed song, and to be honest, with these being their poppiest probabbly, its the best way to start. Another song I've played countless times, and you just get such joy from playing it. The video is also pretty funny too. 10/10

11. The Light & The Glass - A beautiful acoustic song, which kind of morphs into something very different. How Coheed do this is always magical to see, and it really is a wonder to behold. Another song I can religously play on guitar...and will play it until I die. This song will always have a special place in my heart. 10/10

12. 2013 - WHY WAS THIS NOT AN ACTUAL ALBUM TRACK! This being their most proggiest outing, also with a title very close to 2112, really is something that puts this band way ahead of every band thats out today. It's a marvel to behold really. 10/10

CONCLUSION: You can easily listen to this album back to back for all eternity...I don't think I can put it anymore bluntly.

After enjoying "Good Apollo", which is the album that followed this one in the order of albums released by the band, I decided to explore the music further. I took a chance and took a step backwards in time to this album. Again, this album is still based on the same story as "Good Apollo" which is a huge concept story. One advantage of going backwards in their discography, is that I can clearly see how they have progressed. This album has a lot more leaning to the punk and emo sounds that the band evolved from, and it is also not very progressive when compared to "Good Apollo". The tracks are pleasant enough I suppose, but it definately is not as interesting. But you have to at least give some props to the band for the amount of progression from this album compared to the next album, which is something I sort of understood by reading other reviews.

Because the music is more mainstream and poppier on this album, the vocals are probably more annoying, almost sounding boy band-ish in some places. But you can hear some intellect in the music too, especially in the album centerpiece "The Velourium Camper" which is a 3 part suite, and this is the redeeming suite of the album, the remainder of the tracks being just too straightforward and pop sounding. The band, however, is very talented and would continue to strengthen their songwriting skills and so I don't judge the band so much off of this album than I do off of "Good Apollo", which is a very strong 4 star album. This one, unfortunately does not reach that status as it is simply a good mainstream album with some great hooks and interesting passages. So, I would have to say this one is not bad, it's just not really great either. But it is a great example of progression when you compare this album and the next one. 3 stars.

I've tried to veer away from C&C until some consensus came about in regards to labeling their sound. The last I heard was punk meets prog. In Keeping Secrets from Silent Earth: 3, the group's second album, finds them, IMO, to be post metal core meets emo, with some pop and punk thrown in at times. There's still not much here that I would classify as progressive metal, save the band's penchant to keep producing themes based on singer/guitarist Claudio Sanchez's "Armory Wars" graphic novels.

The group does up their game on this album with more complex and, at times, technical playing, as well as improving their already stellar sense of melodicism. This helps to break up the monochromatic stance found of the group's debut album Second Stage. Sanchez is more assured as a vocalist, and like his sound alike "mentor" Geddy Lee, sounds better in the lower registers found on this album, and on this album's quieter higher registers, especially during the backing and response vocals.

The group plays fantastically, but still never takes those fantastic flights of musical fancy and soloing that makes prog metal so adventurous. Perhaps their next effort will see them shoot for the moon, musically as well as conceptually. Now, that would be something.

After a somewhat shaky, yet overall competent debut album, Coheed and Cambria end up improving upon every aspect with their sophomore effort, 'In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth - 3'. The emo pop punk element of their debut has been toned down significantly, paving the way for a more mature, more progressive, and far more grandiose sound. This album in general is much more fitting to the description often given to the band, being far more powerful and epic.

The albums splits itself quite cleanly between the more progressive tracks such as the title track and '2113' and some more accessible, pop oriented ones such as 'Blood Red Summer' and 'A Favor House Atlantic'. These more progressive songs are where most of the best material on the album can be found, with the title track being amazing riff after amazing riff, changing tone at multiple point and displaying Claudio's great vocals. Another example is the 3 piece mini-epic 'The Camper Velorium' showing a gradual descent into darkness through adding dissonant riffs and creepy vocal harmonies, perfectly blending the two contrasting musical sensibilities of the band by also throwing in some extremely catchy elements that display some of the peak of the commercial sound achieved on the album. To contrast this, the pop oriented tracks are more of a mixed bag, with 'Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)' being wonderfully energetic and containing an incredible outro, while some songs, especially 'Blood Red Summer' being somewhat too saccharine for my tastes, 'Blood Red Summer' containing the cheesy "hey hey hey" vocalisations that make this song almost downright embarrassing .

'In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth - 3' also applies the technique that continues becoming more prominent on later albums of reprising sections from previous songs, usually to signify certain plot points. This technique is especially noticeable on '2113' with the reprise of the intro to the debut's 'Time Consumer', which definitely added quite a lot to the song overall. The production is also crystal clear here, with each instrument able to be heard with ease, displaying how well Coheed works as a single unit, each instrument being made prominent only when it needs to be, along with how well each person can play, the prime example being the great drum fills in 'The Crowing'.

This is definitely one of the most consistent Coheed albums, with almost all of the songs being of very high quality and with most of the low points still being serviceable. The growing maturity of the band can be seen here in the form of the longer, more powerful compositions and the overall improvement the band has made on every front, performance, emotion, production, everything. This is where I would recommend newcomers of the band to start from, being one of the best albums the band has made while also giving a great general impression of how the band sounds.

Best Songs: In Keeping Secrets With Silent Earth - 3, The Camper Velorium suite, 2113

Weakest Songs: Blood Red Summer, A Favor House Atlantic

Verdict: An improvement over the debut in every way, and the best entry point into the band's discography, walking the line between pop and prog in a way that can appeal to both crowds. Recommended to anyone who won't run away at the mention of pop-punk music.