GOOD APOLLO, I'M BURNING STAR IV, VOLUME ONE - FROM FEAR THROUGH THE EYES OF MADNESS

3.5 stars.The third studio release from this band seems more mature and polished to me with the Punk element all but gone. I can't stress enough how clear the sound is on this disc. This is drummer Josh Eppard's last album with the band and he leaves with his head held high with a stunning, upfront performance. Actually the rhythm section really shines on this one,and there is plenty of lead guitar solos from Travis Stever as well. In my opinion this is their best work to date. I did feel the album sagged in the middle but it recovered well starting with "Mother May I" and ended in fine fashion with the four part suite called "The Wishing Well".

"Keeping The Blade" opens with violin melodies as piano joins in as it builds to an orchestral sound. "Always & Never" features acoustic guitar and fragile vocals as a childs voice can be heard in the background. These two very good songs really set us up perfectly for "Welcome Home". My first thoughts when I heard this song was "Here we go !" Check out the guitar melody in this one. Vocals arrive a minute in. I love this tune ! Claudio's in fine form. Some blistering guitar solos 4 minutes in as vocal melodies join in on the heaviness. I really wish there were more songs like this though. "Ten Speed (Of God's Blood & Burial)" sounds so amazing crystal clear. This is an uptempo, guitar driven track. "Crossing The Frame" is another song with lots of energy, while "Apollo I:The Writing Writer" is spacey with synths for a minute before the whole band comes in. We get some of those vocals melodies that Claudio is so famous for. Eppard is pounding away as the guitars grind it out.

"Once Upon Your Dead Body" has a cool guitar tone to begin with. A nice heavy rhythm follows as vocals are more laid back until late in the song. "Wake Up" is a ballad. The next three songs are ok but this is where I feel like this is more of the same just not as good until we get to "Mother May I". The final 4 songs are part of a suite called "The Wishing Well". It opens with "Fuel For The Feeding End". This song as well as others are driven by the bass and drums. Nice guitar work 4 1/2 minutes in. "From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness" is the first time i've ever thought of Geddy when Claudio has sung. There is a reggae rhythm then TOOL-like drumming 3 minutes in. Great guitar and vocal melodies follow. "Appolo II: The Telling Truth" is another fantastic tune with the bass and drums leading the way as the guitars grind away. "The Final Cut" is my favourite part of the suite. The guitars really sound different on this one. I like it ! It's like he's holding the notes longer reminding me of Gilmour somewhat. The keys in the background are a really nice touch.

Take out the three songs in the middle and it's easily 4 stars. As it is I can highly recommend this to fans of modern sounding music and especially if your into concept albums.

I have always been interested with any music with story telling theme or usually called as concept album. Coheed and Cambria has been position as a band who always release concept album so I was interested to purchase one of their albums until I found this one at local CD store. It was quite hard to digest the whole album in its entirety even though some passages in the music are quite good to enjoy but not all in its entirety. Just to make it simple, this album favors me only at the the first ¼ of the whole album. It sounds inspiring at the opening with great orchestration of "Keeping the Blade" (2:08) followed with some sort of of prolog of the story under "Always & Never" (2:33) which contains mostly acoustic guitar work plus vocalization. The music starts to blast really at third track "Welcome Home" (6:14) where it combines heavy riffs and symphonic style, the music flows nicely from passage to passage with grandiose music that accompanies. I do not actually favor the vocal style but it seems this is what I have to accept.

"Ten Speed [Of God's Blood and Burial]" (3:46) continues the musical journey in modern emo style with some kind of riffs and choirs section. It flows to "Crossing the Frame" (3:26) with practically similar vein and it kind like creating a boring situation for me as there are no catchy passages or melodies that I can digest easily. This is where the rest of the music does not truly attract me forward. I think the music is alike from this point onwards even though not all of them exactly the same but there are no surprises that elevate the curiosity. The peak of boringness arrives at approx track 7 "Once Upon Your Dead Body" (3:19) which does not seem to improve musically. I can only hear that the basic rhythm section of this album is supported with acoustic guitar work. Under "The Suffering" (3:43) the band make their effort with upbeat music but unfortunately it does not stimulate further attractiveness to me. The album's epic "The Willing Well" fails to elevate the music as it does not offer something truly catchy . it's just a series of drama to support the album's concept.

Overall, I consider this is a good album but it tends to get me bored right at the after the first quarter of the album contents. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)

OK, it's about time I tackled another Coheed and Cambria album here. To end the saga, the band decided to cover part IV over the course of two volumes. Continuing the evolution of the band's sound, From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness is something along the lines of 70s heavy prog-rock meets 80s metal meets 90s pop sound. The band sounds better than ever, but how about their songwriting? Fans may be disappointed after the first listen due to how straightforward the album is. Aside from the closing suite, none of the songs feature really complex structures, odd times, guitar riffs or anything else we were hoping to hear from the band this time around. As capable as the band may be, the listener must accept that the band does not wish to be a masterfully intricate music machine. They want to create songs, memorable, catchy, emotional songs that maintain a musical and lyrical integrity and appeal to wide audiences. Is it for the money? Maybe so, and I know I've pondered that question several times, but after a few listen it simply didn't matter; it's just darn good music and I don't need more than what they've given me to be satisfied. This album may be one of the highest-density albums when it comes to vocal and musical hooks. Every song has at the very least one great vocal line and one great guitar riff to stick in your head long after you're done listening.

After an orchestral opening that recalls the intros of the band's first two albums plus some fresh material, we're taken in an unxpected direction: a short acoustic song. Surely we were all expecting another epic powerhouse, but no, the band thought it best to catch us off guard with a nice little tune that's almost like a second introduction. "Always & Never" starts off rather cheery, but then the song twists the line "for one kiss from you" from early in the song to "to kill all of you" at the end, providing a quick change of moods and you know it's on now. Then the song we were anticipating presents itself in all it's majesty. "Welcome Home" is as epic as a 6-minute song can get. It is huge, powerful, orchestral, and it even has another "whoa" sequence at the end reminiscent of "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3." The writing over the course of the first 3 songs is very effective. The album proves to be very much like an audio movie, which is something the band has been trying to accomplish. They've made their finest effort to make it happen on this one. Next we are given two fantastic poppy tracks that aren't afraid to rock: "Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial) and "Crossing the Frame." Then we see the dark side again with "Apollo I: The Writing Writer." Not sure what the purpose of that redundant title is, but it is the proggiest song thus far and still manages to throw in some sweet hooks among the darkness. "Once Upon Your Dead Body" is another great poppy number that is followed up by the album's ballad, "Wake Up." This is the albums only real dull moment, but it's not entirely bad. They follow it up with a great sequence of tracks to close out the main part of the volume: the delicious pop fun of "The Suffering," the delicious rock fun of "The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court" and the delicious emotional balladesque fun of "Mother May I." By this point you are completely absorbed into the atmosphere the band creates, again, much like a movie, and with the final 30 minutes the band cranks everything to the max and delivers a full-fledged suite of climactic prog-rock songs. As with the suite "The Velorium Camper" from the previous album, "The Willing Well" is made up of individual songs that are associated by the lyrical content. Prog fans not convinced by the more mainstream side of the band should certaily give this stuff a shot. You may find yourself quite impressed. Still relying on great melodies and solid rhythms, the band struts their skills a little more here, particularly on the first part, "Fuel for the Feeding End" and the Floydian final track "The Final Cut" (coincidence? probably not, but we'd like to think that the band wasn't paying tribute to that unbearable album). Between those two are the rockin' title track and "Apollo II: The Telling Truth," which brings back most of the first part with added twists and turns. All 4 songs feature non-conventional structures and remain very coherent. A great way to close an already great album. Finally, we are treated to a fun acoustic/slide guitar hidden track which again goes back to the movie concept. Claudio put it there because he wanted to make it like one of those almost inappropriately chosen tunes in the credits of movies. Hey, it works for me.

There is something here for everyone, and prog fans might not get their fix of indulgence on this one, but for those times when you just want to rock to something simple and catchy but not mindless, this is definitely one of the places you should go. Claudio delivers a heartfelt and thoroughly memorable set of vocal performances, certainly his best yet, and the rhythm section, though what they play is simple in nature, is made more interesting with the use of slap bass, just to point out a few of the qualities here. Oh, and that so-called "emo" sound everyone was complaining about before is completely gone. What other reasons do you have not to enjoy this band? Strangely enough, this album requires repeated listens, but for the opposite reasons most albums require repeated listens. It's easy to write the disc off as being too simple, but you'll realize the glory of this album in the splendor of its simplicity soon enough. Don't overthink music all of the time!

'From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness' - Coheed & Cambria (8/10)

This is the pinnacle of Coheed & Cambria's career. In a prudent move, they decided to shed their emo 'pull the trigger and the nightmare stops' shanadigans and make way for more of a Prog sound. Songs like 'Welcome Home' even verge on being considered progressive metal, which isn't something people would expect from a band that's lauded by the 'scene' crowd. While I love each of Coheed's albums respectively, this one holds the place of being my favourite from this band hailing from this New York band. The songwriting adopts a newfound maturity that really adds to the making of a really great album. There are so many great songs on this album, and even the weaker tracks ('Crossing The Frame' and 'The Lies And Dirty Secrets Of Miss Erica Court') bring something interesting to the table. This album would be somewhere in my top twenty favourite albums.

The best songs are obviously, the most progressive. 'Apollo' is a song that is divided into two parts/versions, which is very cool, despite the fact that the two parts are a bit too similar for their own good. Despite a very modern sound (Coheed & Cambria should be applauded for their attention to both the credible and commercial aspects of being an artist) there are obvious homages to their classical influences (Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush.) 'The Final Cut' has a solo in it that sounds like David Gilmour did a guest appearance.

As far as the concept or storyline for the album goes, I've always found 'The Amory Wars' concept to be far too complex to be followed and told faithfully through lyrics. It's nice to know that the lyrics tie together somehow, and perhaps at a later date I will analyze the lyrics, but a science fiction theme is always a plus in my books.

I can't promise everyone will fall in love with this album or band, but the fact that Coheed & Cambria is an extremely talented, able group is undeniable. An album that flows against the tide in an ocean of primarily disposable music.

Despite a serious dip halfway the album, this is the most convincing C&C material. If you're in the mood for an entertaining mixture of punk-pop fun with touches of Zepply Rushiness, then you should give this album a try.

Right from the opening it is clear that C&C have a few more tricks up their sleeve this time: some moody violins open the album, followed by a good acoustic piece before they kick the thing into real action with Welcome Home, an epic Led Zeppelin anthem. The riffs have become more intricate, the arrangement more textured and the composition is more extended and purposeful. A vast improvement over any of the preceding albums.

However, the creative vibe is not maintained. From track Crossing the Frame onwards, the album won't add much surprises anymore. By consequence, the album loses focus as the songs become gradually more samey and less solid. The closing suite saves the album a bit. With the Willing Well suite C&C deliver some of the best minutes of their career.

If you'd like to try a bubblegum version of the Mars Volta you should seek no further and give this album a try. Only the first 4 and the last few songs would be good enough for 4-stars but nevertheless this is Coheed & Cambria's finest hour.

Good Eye, Sniper.

By far my favorite between the two juggernauts albums baring the name Apollo, this one has lots of musical hooks like other records..only a few more. Coheed and Cambria's records are not very different from another, with the same (winning) recipe and the same sound.

Some songs like Welcome Home are monsters, real epics of Goliathesque weight. C&C are riffing like it's their last day on earth, mimicking some that Metallica gave us in their glory days. Of course, this is not for everybody; they starred in the Vans Warped Tour and the majority of their fans never heard of Gentle Giant or ELP. To me, their songs are a good relief when the greasyness of prog clogges my soul. I do enjoy their comic book attitude and I find refreshing to hear a young voice closer to Geddy Lee than Peter Gabriel. There's so much Marillion wannabees around, how about a change?

I love headbangin' to Ten Speed so much, why should I bother banish them because they achieved MTV success? Prog is the Revenge of Nerds right?

Well Claudio Sanchez is one major nerd.

So, this is a band I'm not as familiar with as I should be. This is so far, the only Coheed and Cambria album that I own, and I must say that I enjoy it to a certain extent. I know that their roots were in some kind of emo and punk combination, but I hear very little of that in this album. Instead, what you get is a very nice combination of progressiveness and some leanings towards a poppy sound at times. The most progressive parts are the best, but the poppier songs aren't really that bad either. When the band is good, they are really good. Tight playing, a complex concept based on a sci-fi story and some heavy passages that never get overbearing plus some very inventive songs mixed with a few lighter ones gives a good feeling of variety so that one doesn't get too tired of the sound. The concept is complex like I said before and actually spans several albums. I have no idea what the story is, but I plan on understanding it better because the music is good enough to merit several listens, and as I become more accustomed to the vocals, I think I might even decide that it deserves a better rating than what I give it here. The vocals....I do have a problem with them, but that problem has become a smaller and smaller problem the more I listen to this. They seem like they are not so believable because the vocalist does have a slightly immature sounding voice, but I know that when the music and the composition is as good as what this is, I have been able to adjust to vocals in the past with other bands, and I really think that will happen here. Ask me again in a year or so and I bet that they won't even bother me anymore.

Rhythms are complex and challenging at times, and simple and almost radio oriented at others. The band reaches a perfect balance here in my opinion. The album opens with a beautiful orchestrated instrumental which is followed by an impressive track "Always and Never" and then followed by a full on prog track called "Welcome Home". This is followed by a harder track with again a good amount of prog elements to is called "Ten Speed". After this, the middle of the album does tend to sag a little bit, especially in the first listenings because the songs tend to get a little more radio friendly for a while, and as a result, start to sound a little too much the same. The more you listen to this album though, the more you hear, and the songs to start to grow on you and you do notice each one has it's own personality. The beautiful slower track "Wake Up" breaks this sameness up a little bit, and is to me the best of the middle tracks, but the immaturity of the vocals really shows through here, even though the song is beautiful. After that, the songs build in progressiveness again until the more complex "Mother May I" and the excellent 4 part suite "The Willing Well" which is full blown progressive rock again. The songs are typically (but not always) vocally driven, the rhythms complex and changing. The only slight complaint here is I wish there were more instrumental passages here, but that complaint will fade as I get more familiar with the suite. There really is a great instrumental section that finally ends off the suite about half way through the last movement that is simply amazing and shows off the talent of the band. Then there is this very surprising coda that just comes out of nowhere....

Very good album, impressive compositions and instrumentation, I am more than willing to familiarize myself with the band better now that I have gotten to the point that I do enjoy this album. As of now, I have to give the album 4 stars because of the few complaints that I have, but as I get used to the sound, my feelings about this could very well change. My son loves this band, and so, with his encouragement, I will familiarize myself with the band better. For now, this is definitely an excellent album and a great addition to your prog collection.

OK, to give Coheed and Cambria full credit, repackaging what is fairly standard progressive metal fare and selling it to the alternative rock crowd quite as effectively as they did with this album is no mean feat. The post-hardcore and emo influences that informed the band's early works are now dialled way down, to the point where they are discernible less as fully expressed musical approaches and more as a certain touch to the production aesthetic; scratch the surface of the packaging, though, and what you have here is essentially a rather boisterous performance of material which wouldn't be entirely out of place on one of the edgier, heavier Dream Theater albums.

Coheed and Cambria's third album is generally considered to be their best, I can definitely see why this is the case. Their sound has been further refined from previous efforts, maintaining a mix of pop and prog rock while also having refined both sides of this sound. Along with this major improvement, production is even better than before, with the sound once again being extremely clear, and the album containing some of the band's best work. However, despite the fact that some of the highest heights being found here, I can also say that it contains a couple of small missteps.

The first 4 songs on the album are incredibly promising, the first 2, 'Keeping the Blade' and 'Always and Never' essentially serving as short introductions to the rest of the album. 'Always and Never' in particular is notable out of these 2, as it is a great example of how the band puts some extremely happy sounding tunes together with some extremely dark lyrics, which is something the majority of the album does quite well. 'Welcome Home' is the first true standout of the album however, with one of my favourite intros in music, the first quiet guitar riff that then simply explodes into an epic, symphonic masterpiece of a song. Everything about this song is simply perfection, amazingly intense, with each instrument sounding great and the additional string orchestration further heightening this. The more upbeat, poppy bridge helps break up the song slightly before it goes back to going full throttle, but overall, I cannot fault this song at all, as it is undoubtedly incredible and well deserving of it being by far the most popular song Coheed have ever made. 'Ten Speed (Of God's Blood & Burial)', while not quite as great as 'Welcome Home', is another great song, being fast, catchy, and fun, with an especially great chorus. The first problem with the album actually surfaces here however, as the next song, 'Crossing the Frame' is one of my least favourite songs the band has put out, being incredibly boring and unimpressive, despite a decent bassline. This song would have disturbed the general flow of the album if not for the powerhouse that is the next song, 'Apollo I: The Writing Writer'. This is up there with 'Welcome Home' for me in terms of quality, with the unusual riff which when together with the equally strange bass and the great vocal melody, creates something both truly unique sounding, and a formidable song. In terms of composition, this song is also great, with the chorus and bridge near the end both being extremely catchy, both being worthy of being main hooks in a song, making this relatively structurally simple song end up sounding amazing.

The middle section is considerably weaker than the first, containing some more simplistic songs without anywhere near as much of the wow factor that the previous songs had, instead being much more pleasant. 'Wake Up' is a great ballad, combining some simply beautiful passages making full use of the string orchestrations, while also having the dark edge of the lyrics, with phrases such as "Kill anyone for you". 'The Suffering' is the other high point of this portion of the album, being the most straightforward song on the album, along with being by far the most catchy. This song also shows how the band have further developed the pop aspect of themselves, being extremely enjoyable, with some of the cheesiness toned down, likely a big part being how Claudio's vocals have further developed on this album. The other songs are inoffensive, but unimpressive, simply being quite dull.

The Willing Well suite makes up over a third of the album, and is worth every second of it, being easily the greatest part of the entire album. This is genuinely one of my favourite songs of all time, easily falling in my top 20, possibly top 10 (yes, I'm aware that each section sounds quite different, but if 'Karn Evil 9' is allowed to do this and still be considered one song, then so is this). Each section of this manages to impress me in a different way, with no section being weaker than any other, making a consistently amazing listening experience, despite being 30 minutes long. 'The Willing Well I: Fuel For The Feeding End' kicks things off with a wonderful ferocity, the technical ability of the band being on full display, with fast paced, frenetic riffing while the bass sounds like it's going insane. The heavily altered backing harmonies during the "run little maggot" bridge are nothing short of brilliant, then going through many other changes, not letting up for a moment, with even the slower moments being unsettling. This section showcases the peak of technical ability that the band has. 'The Willing Well II: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness' is probably my favourite part of the suite, being structurally great and focusing mostly on shifting through various emotions and tones. The first section is one of the most stupidly happy sounding songs I've heard, perhaps only rivalled by 'The Dear Hunter's' 'Smiling Swine'. What makes this song so impressive to me is how there is a constant gradual buildup throughout the entire run-time, starting of sounding so carefree, despite the overtly dark lyrics. Everything further builds as the song has a constant pace set up by the drumming and Claudio repeatedly sings "No one runs faster than you", which is wonderfully demented and I love it. This section displays how well the band can control the tone of their music, along with how perfectly they can build things up. 'The Willing Well III: Apollo II: The Telling Truth' is by far the part that I find most interesting, simply because the entire song is essentially reprises that are woven together expertly. I mentioned earlier how the closing bridge to 'Apollo I' could easily be used as the main hook of a song, which is proven here, as that's exactly what happens. After the first section, which is essentially just a reprise of 'Apollo I' but with minor changes such as a slightly increased tempo, the middle section then comes in, reprising both 'Everything Evil' and 'Blood Red Summer' from previous albums, right before picking up the pace once again. This to me shows the peak of the storytelling aspect of the band, along with their catchy side, as the songs that have been reprised each are integral to the events that are occurring in the lyrics. 'The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut' is a strange piece in the band's entire discography, merely consisting on two verses and then a massive guitar solo at the end. This is easily the darkest sounding song the band has ever put out, with Claudio singing with such raw emotion and the guitar having such a melancholic tone to it. The entire solo is simply amazing, sounding quite bluesy in parts, sounding extremely interesting and unique, as well as closing off the album in the utterly perfect way. This section show the peak of emotional impact that the band has achieved.

This is definitely the best thing that Coheed and Cambria has ever put out, and while not completely consistent, has enough simply incredible moments throughout that I simply cannot rate it anything less than a reasonably high score. I find every element of the band to be at its peak here. The songwriting, while occasionally faltering, is mostly of high quality, with many of my favourite songs by the band featured here. The album is packed full of catchy melodies, powerful emotion, and nicely complex pieces of music thrown in as well.

Best Songs: Welcome Home, The Suffering, The Willing Well Suite

Weakest Songs: Crossing the Frame, Mother May I

Verdict: Coheed and Cambria further refines their sound on their third album, allowing them to further develop both the prog and pop side of their sound, each aspect improving upon previous efforts. While the middle section is somewhat weaker than the rest, the high points are so incredibly high that the overall experience is an extremely positive one.