Coheed & Cambria - Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Vol.1

With album art that could easily brand Coheed and Cambria, a prog-rock outfit from upstate New York, as the torch bearers of Molly Hatchet, it appears, however, that the baton has rather been passed on more by the likes of Rush and Styx with some Pink Floyd and Metallica added to provide musical structure. Darkness bodes, but Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Vol. 1 immediately envelopes with the almost beautiful “Keeping the Blade” and clever hooks—which are actually even thrilling at times—make the album’s looming seventy-one minutes musically compelling. CoCa actually have you believing that you may have given bands like Styx the short shrift. It is only when one peeks at the lyric sheet that fun comes abruptly to an end. Perhaps in an effort not to be labeled wimps like their musical forbears, CoCa offer a rather chilling stance with regards to women in this alleged mythical journey. The story is rather convoluted—Good Apollo… and previous albums apparently tell the tale of Coheed and Cambria—and many female listeners will no doubt detect an unsettling subtext within this mythology. Singer/Guitarist Claudio Sanchez’s lyrics are generally cryptic but there is no mistaking the meaning of “a Whore in Sheep’s Clothing/ F-ing up All I do,” “Just Come and Look at What Your Brother Did/ To That Girl’s Precious Whore of a Body” and “If I had my way/ I would Smash Your Face in the Door,” which are not only offensive but even a little disturbing at the very least. By definition doesn’t progressive generally tend to imply growth? [www.coheedandcambria.com]