THE SECOND STAGE TURBINE BLADE

Yes, I am indeed sticking my neck out there and giving Coheed and Cambria's debut The Second Stage Turbine Blade a rating of essential.... the same rating I gave to prog classics like Close To The Edge and In The Court Of The Crimson King. It's sounds nothing like them, and is certainly not even close to being as musically progressive as the classics. Yet, this album marks perhaps the beginning of the next wave of progressive music. Yes, I am hailing this as one of the, if not THE first, album that clearly demonstrates what new prog is all about. As the classic 70s bands took 60s pop and psychedelia and transformed it into something new and exciting that came to be known as prog rock, Coheed and Cambria are one of those bands who started to take the alternative and punk scene from the late 90s and expand upon it to create something new and far more interesting and fresh.

Everything on this album is just great. It's raw, uncompromised, unique, and it's still very influenced by genres not usually (or ever) associated with progressive music. But that's not to say you can't see the progressive seeds bring sown in this album. It sounds a bit like metal, a bit like alternative, a bit like punk.... but at the same time doing things that define none of those genres. Complex, evolving song structures; long instrumental breaks; this Armory Wars story going through the songs; this is not the typical rock music of the day. What you end up with is a brilliant, unique album that ever prog fans should give a listen, to see where progressive music is going and where this new wave of prog came from. It's a fantasic listen.

Highlights include Time Consumer, Everything Evil, Delirium Trigger, Junesong Provision, Neverender, and God Send Conspirator.... not that the other 3 songs are any slouch... but these are the songs where you can see the progressive nature of Coheed break through and really give the album it's most resonant and greatest moments.