THE SECOND STAGE TURBINE BLADE

Coheed and Cambria plays a blend of progressive and alternative rock, 80s metal and pop. Fronting the band is Claudio Sanchez, who has awesome hair and an unmistakable voice. He has been compared to Geddy Lee, even that he is trying to be Geddy Lee as a vocalist, but that is far from the truth. Each of the two has different quirks in their voices that set them apart, and I can't hear any Coheed and Cambria vocal lines that sound like an imitation of Rush. Further criticism of the band includes that there is too much of an emo element in their music. I personally avoid the term emo as much as I can - it carries different meanings to everybody musically and I don't even want to get into the fashion side of it - because it doesn't do anything to really describe the music, not to mention that an automatic negative conotation is brought upon the described band when the term is thrown around (specifically in prog rock circles). This band should not be treated as one of those bands because they are quite beyond that. Even if they carry a sound that has traces of what some may refer to as emo, it is not one of their defining characteristics. The "emo" sound they carry is more of the Fugazi brand than anything, which isn't at all detestable mind you, and it was mostly shed by their second album anyway. I thought I might tag this onto my first Coheed review and get that over with. Moving on...

The band's debut album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade is actually the second chapter in their multi-album Sci-Fi concept, which also has a corresponding comic book series. Coheed and Cambria are main characters in this story (I wonder what they plan on doing when they're done with this concept series). This multi-album concept idea, as many of us know at this point, has been done before (immediately Magma comes to mind), but of course the MTV crowd is not used to this, so the band has been lauded for such a feat. However, the band was still pretty much an underground band when this thing came out, and didn't really see fame until after this album's successor.

The album opens with the title track, which is a 50-second intro that introduces a musical motif that the band would incorporate into their future albums. This flows into Time Consumer, which opens with a nice drum & bass groove accompanied by a very cool, clean dual guitar riff and then moves into an interesting poppy alternative rock song. I would have liked to hear more development of that awesome intro (underdevelopment would prove to be one of their problems in later albums), but the song is still very good nevertheless, and they do end up bringing the intro riff back along with a guitar solo by Dr. Know of Bad Brains (interesting choice). I suppose if any track on here sounds emo, it would be the bulk of this song. One thing you will notice about this band that further sets them aside from the bands they get compared to is their tight rhythm section; bassist Michael Todd plays funky lines and even plays slap bass occasionally, even in the pop songs, and drummer Joshua Eppard play simple but tasty beats that meld with the bass. Next we have "Devil in Jersey City," which makes a great single. It has great hooks, but also a very gritty edge. This moves into "Everything Evil," which is arguably the most proggy track on the album. Going from a dark and evil, if you will, first half to a powerful melodic second half, this is an excellent song. As the song fades out, we hear the next and most prominent musical motif they will use in the years to come, this time played on a piano with a very haunting atmosphere enveloping it. "Delirium Trigger" is the heaviest song on this album. "Hearshot Kid Disaster" starts out with a pretty funky riff and then moves into a good alternative rock song. "33" is a poppy track with some great hooks. Closing out the album is a series of dynamic, emotionally charged songs: "Junesong Provision," "Neverender" and "God Send Conspirator." Each track is fantastic. The bonus track "IRO-Bot" is an acoustic/piano based song. It's not entirely on par with the rest of the album, which is probably why they made it a bonus track, but the piece will reappear on the next album's bonus track as well.

All in all, this is a very good album. If you like well-written music, and don't mind a little alternative rock/pop sound, you should enjoy this. The production is a little rough, but it doesn't harm the music too much. They are not grandiloquent, despite the whole concept thing, and they won't blow you away when you first listen to them. You might even be inclined to write them off as pretentious yet run-of-the-mill (especially on the albums to come), but you would be mistaken. The hooks will catch up to you, and the emotion conveyed will impact you. Watching this band progress is quite interesting too. If this album was given the same production treatment as the higher budget albums they put out, then this thing would probably be perfect for me. I'll rate this at 4 ½ stars, but it is on a sliding scale. Not everyone is going to need this in their collection, but it has had quite a significant influence on me. I have always thought that the band had more in them than they gave, but what they gave is still delightful.

'The Second Stage Turbine' - Coheed & Cambria (7/10)

There's been great controversy over whether or not this band should even be on the site. While the answer should be a resounding 'yes' (listen to the song 'The Willing Well I: Fuel For The Feeding End' from the first 'Good Apollo' album, and you should see what I mean) this album is not very progressive. That doesn't mean however, that it's not good, or doesn't incorperate some progressive elements into the music.

Songs like 'Time Consumer' and 'Godsend Conspirator' are fantastic songs in their own right, and are Coheed classics. I really, really like this album, although it wasn't always like that. Unlike the other Coheed albums, which I enjoyed from first spin on, this release took quite a while to get into. At first, I thought it was mediocre, and very one-tracked indie music. But after taking it for what it is, and after hearing a friend's argument saying it was an amazing album for it's 'flow,' I gave it another chance, and I found myself really liking the music.

Even though this is the band's first record, the guitar work feels like it's the best out of any of the Coheed & Cambria albums. Songs like 'Everything Evil' really show the guitarist's skill.

While I may like this album, as can be said for 'In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth,' it can't be promised that prog fans will be first to enjoy this. But if you know what to expect, and are open to many styles of music, this should be worth checking out, for sure.

There is a strong bubblegum pop edge to this rock music, and as much as I would otherwise be ashamed to admit it, I really enjoy this music much in the way I like The Ataris (the two bands are quite similar in many ways). The trouble with this album is that while the compositions may be different from each other in many ways, the sound remains the same, and it does grow old about halfway through.

"Second Stage Turbine Blade" A short, atmospheric track opens the album.

"Time Consumer" The opening guitars are clean over a grooving bass and good drum line. It's a short while before the heavy guitars come in. The vocal melody is impressively strong and memorable (I was humming this after the first time I heard it). I also love the subtle synthesizer work. This is the best thing on the album.

"Devil in Jersey City" Further garage band music ensues, but this song has some solid guitar riffs and a lot of energy. The tight bass playing is also something to pay attention to. Again, the vocal melody is as catchy as one expects from good prog-punk. A soft, clean electric guitar solo brings the heavy growling end.

"Everything Evil" The rapid palm-muted guitar riff really makes this song stand out from the others. At the same time, it leaves the singer bare and exposes his weaknesses a bit.

"Delirium Trigger" The drumming stands out, even if it lacks inventiveness. The guitar work, as usual, moves from clean to distorted parts.

"Hearshot Kid Disaster" Heavy drumming, loud guitars, and screaming make up the introduction to this piece. Otherwise, it sounds like everything that came before. While the growling is irritating after only a short while, the chorus is yet another catchy aspect.

"33" This is a nice power pop track with some pleasing vocal harmonies, but nothing much else.

"Junesong Provision" Heavy guitar and impressive vocals and lyrics make up this noteworthy song.

"Neverender" Excellent bass work extends over the mix for a great hard rock series of riffs and a pretty good song.

"God Send Conspirator" Clean guitar music with solid drumming and outstanding bass tone carry the music for the first few seconds of this track. The acoustic section that follows (after some time of silence) is a pleasing change of pace, and what The Mars Volta sounds like on songs like "Televators" (if toned down even more).

SST is a disappointing album. C&C had not fully come into their Rush on emo-punk sound yet and the song writing is generally weak and too unremarkable for me.

The opener Time Consumer is a good example. C&C try something that is supposed to be energetic and catchy but it fails at both. The melodies are bland and the playing is flat and uninspired. In fact, an endless stream of songs follows that is hard to survive without ruining the skip button of your remote control (or Winamp yes).

Everything Evil would be the only track to rise a bit above the average. But it sounds completely nicked from Caress of Steel, even though it doesn't use any actual Rush riff. No, the talent to pull that off isn't present yet: the guitar playing is substandard nu-metal and the vocals are incapable to do anything else but the one trick they keep doing on each track. It's hard to describe what that trick really is though, but it sure never leads to a memorable vocal line that sounds anything different from any other vocal melodies on the album.

Generic, uninspiring and immature. And yet I can understand some of their appeal. Hard to rate. If this was C&C's only album I might opt for 2.5 stars. But given their somewhat grown maturity on later albums I'm somewhere around 1.5 stars. I think thats 2 stars if I can count a bit.

Ugh. I can't say much that I like about this album. To me it simply sounds like a garage band version of the Mars Volta. I know this came before their debut album but I actually prefer their version of screamo emo. Every song on this album sounds the same. It's the same mono-drumming, the same riffing, the same awful vocals. There is some stuff from this band that is absolutely brilliant so when I saw this first album at a very discounted price I thought i'd pick it up and give it a spin. What can I say? I love so much music and there's really not much out there that I just can't stand but I hate to say it fans of this album that this is one of those albums that makes me cringe. The only thing I like about this album is some of the really cool spacey intros to the songs. Throughout the whole album I keep wishing that they would just explore that territory and make an awesome ambient album instead but then it turns into.... well, something that displeases me immensely :(

When I originally decided to listen to Coheed and Cambria, I began with this album, and was extremely surprised. From what this band was described as, an incredibly ambitious, epic band with an overarching sci fi concept, I instead was somewhat disappointed to find out just how much of a pop and even occasionally emo edge they had to them. This disappointment was actually increased due to how amazing the band's intros tended to be, as I found 'Second Stage Turbine Blade' and the intro to 'Time Consumer' to sound absolutely incredible, only to be greeted by a fairly standard hard rock tune directly after. However, I must say that my initial opinion of them was heavily biased and led by my disappointment, rather than looking at it objectively, because it's actually a pretty decent album overall.

I've already started speaking about just how incredible I find the intro to 'Time Consumer' to be, having an excellent melody and atmosphere, which then transforms into the poppy, yet great main parts of it. I really love the vocals of Claudio Sanchez, as they manage to be extremely nice and pleasant in many cases, while also being able to have a lot of emotion put behind them when the song requires it. 'Delirium Trigger' is another song that has an incredible intro, and is my favourite song on the album other than possibly 'Time Consumer'. This song almost sounds like something from Deloused era 'Mars Volta', especially with the vocals. The melody is great, and the chorus is simply dripping with emotion. The rest of the album similarly follows this basic template.

This album is quite flawed in a number of ways however, the biggest reason being the aforementioned template used for many songs here, having an intro that's usually incredible, but different to the majority of the song, which then leads into a pop rock track, the issue here being how many of them sound very similar to one another past the halfway point, with the drumming being quite monotonous throughout. My one other large issue with this album is that while the vocals are usually incredible, Claudio was far from being able to scream well at this point, and so whenever he tries using harsh vocals, it ends up sounding quite terrible.

On the whole, the album is of fair quality, with the first half being great, with some of the band's best material, while the second half is somewhat dull and tiresome, overall making it one of the weaker releases by the band. Despite this, I cannot deny that the melodies are often great, and that many of the intros are good enough that it makes me wonder how different this band would end up being if they focused more on these aspects rather than further developing the pop element of their sound, but as it stands, this is a decent album, but not one that I will jump out and strongly recommend to people.

Best Tracks: Time Consumer, Everything Evil, Delirium Trigger

Weakest Tracks: Hearshot Kid Disaster, 33

Verdict: A decent album all around, but far from the best that Coheed has to offer. The sound is quite pop oriented in general, so be prepared for that, but at least give the first 4 main tracks a listen if you're interested, as they are quite strong