Music: Coheed & Cambria

Hello Viewers!

At the moment I feel like talking about one of my other band interest: Coheed & Cambria.

The band's music is EASY LISTENING and can be likened to progressive and punk rock with a metal undertone. Now I must get one thing straight...I absolutely loath 'screaming' music. The kind of music that so often accompanies band names like 'Dark Fortress' and 'Immortal'. But Coheed is none of that sinful nonsense, no not AT ALL.
 

It may be my attraction to various American pop music, but the best thing about the band for me is the lead singer Claudio Sanchez's voice. Unfortunately he has the kind of singing voice that first-impressions are particularly unkind to. I have witnessed friends who listen to one of the bands songs, and within the first 10 seconds of hearing the singer's voice, dismiss them as an 'Offspring' or 'Sugar Ray' flavour...how this makes me seethe with revulsion! Sanchez's voice IS incredible...sure it sounds high and youthful but his vocal range is so dynamic and this makes for some exhilarating and zanily experimental tunes.  

 The zany guitar strums and the rhythmic connection between the wood of the sticks and the skin of the drums is scintillating to listen to and even at their heaviest times the sound comes off crystal clear and effortlessly - despite the fact that the band play a notoriously intensive set in all of their live gigs. Whenever the songs translate into slower tones, they become eerily calm and sublime, evoking an atmosphere of joyful spontaneity and with upbeat tempos thrown in at random interludes. These songs don't disappoint and turn too dreary but rather exploit their methodic verses and attatch a truly unique style to the lyrics. Why? Because 'dreary' is not a word in Sanchez's vocabulary owing to his refreshingly unorthodox voice. Even in the soothing songs like 'Wake Up' and 'The Light & The Glass' the listener never gets too docile and inebriated as that oh so spontaneous and distinguishable voice never stays too monosyllabic.  

All the band's albums are concept albums: in other words, they all follow a shared purpose, message or storyline. In Coheed's case, their songs chart the events of 'The Amory Wars', a story written by the front man himself that has actually been turned into a comic-book series. This underlying theme in Coheed's works is most likely why their album artworks are so insanely cool, reminiscent of 'Iron Maidens' CD art collections.

Songs I would recommend to the new listener:

Feathers - Personal favourite.
Welcome Home - Excellent guitar riffs.
Wake Up - Calming and Smooth.
Blood Red Summer - Most famous Hit.
Everything Evil - Showcases band's Epicness.
Time Consumer - Example of typical storytelling narrative song.

Trivia: Coheed and Cambria are known to have a continuous video stream of Sam Raimi's 'Evil Dead' behind their set in their live shows. 'Blood Red Summer''s msuic video is a hint..