Risen from the ashes...
Year of the Black Rainbow - (2010)
Album by Coheed and Cambria
Here we go, first album review in a long time. I'm going to change up my review style a little bit. I hope you like it. Last time we looked at No World for Tomorrow. That one was a disappointment. Year of the Black Rainbow however makes up for the sins of the past. It provides plenty of wonderful things that fans of the band had come to love, while still experimenting and keeping things fresh. Storywise this album is actually a prequel to the first record, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, and supposedly completes the originally planned tetralogy of albums. Here is a quick synopsis of the story taken from the novel the album is based on (the novel is written by Claudio Sanchez and Peter David).
"Welcome to the world of Heaven's Fence, where a lattice of mysterious energy known as the Keywork binds and sustains life on a triangular network of planets--from the bleak and hellish Howling Earth to the sparse beauty of Bendelesh. Beneath the Keywork's glow, under the governance of the twelve grey-skinned Mages and the watchful gaze of the winged Prise, humanity goes about its daily life unaffected by the goings-on of the higher powers at work in the universe. Until the day when the ambitious Wilhelm Ryan, newest member to the brotherhood of Mages, acts on his growing discontent at being branded another ordinary Mage, ruling over one lowly Sector. Shrewd and silver-tongued, Ryan launches the Mage Wars: a devastating campaign to win control of the entire Fence and take on the legendary mantle of Supreme Tri-Mage, a position likened to God himself."
Now on to the review. The album is produced by Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails, and Jane’s Addiction) and Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age). Obviously this duo has some prowess and I am a huge fan of their work already. I used to not like this record at all. I found it to be on par with No World For Tomorrow. However, after subsequent listens and a couple years to digest, I have come to appreciate this body of work. The prog rock affectations are all there, complex drum patterns (The Flame of Error), excellent guitar work (Here We Come Juggernaut), and fantastic vocal delivery (Guns of Summer) all make up what I believe to be very close to the level of Good Apollo part 1. The record starts off with a string of tracks that ended up as singles or promo tracks later on, The Broken, Guns of Summer, Here We Come Juggernaut, and Far. The Broken is ok, it doesn’t set a good tone for the record as it feels more like something on No World For Tomorrow. I think it fits in the album as a whole though. Guns of Summer is where things really start kicking. A sick prog track that dishes out riffs, and excellent vocals. Combined with some of the better lyrics in a Coheed track and you have a winning formula. That seems to be the theme musically for this whole album. Coheed went to a place that I think they felt comfortable with. Here We Come Juggernaut and other harder songs (World of Lines, Made Out of Nothing, and The Flame of Error) all provide a sense of urgency that I just love. They keep me engaged and leave me with wanting more. Songs like Far and Pearl of the Stars, the ballads on this album, fall a little flat for me. They lack what that sense of urgency this album has pervading throughout. Normally I wouldn’t mind a change of pace in the album, but they had such a great thing going that I did not really want that to stop. The final song, the title track, unfortunately ends the album on kind of a boring end note. I don’t like the way they ended this album. I feel they could have left me with a little more satisfaction. It just isn’t there on this track.
The tracks on their own work well. Lyrically they aren’t too complex by staying clear of any special story elements. I come back to these songs individually quite frequently nowadays. That is a good thing. Being able to stand on your own without the context of an album is important to me personally. The album only improves the tracks, not lessen them. One major criticism that I see brought up for this album is the production by Ross. I love the atmosphere that he managed to build up in these tracks. The arrangements and quality of production really brought out some of the more notable tracks. In my review of Second Stage Turbine Blade I talked poorly of the production quality. I was questioned on that and I replied by stating that better production allows for new horizons to be reached (I didn't actually say that but was trying to get that across). I believe that had I reviewed this record two or three years ago I would have been singing a different tune. A much more negative tune. Instead however, time prevails as the ultimate mediator of conflict.
Year of the Black Rainbow gets a
7.9/10
Positives:
-Great atmosphere.
-Love the production
-Killer guitar work
-Excellent Lyrics
Negatives:
-The ballads leave a little bit to be desired.
-The last track isn't that good.
Standout Tracks: Guns of Summer, Here We Come Juggernaut, World of Lines, In the Flame of error
Weaker Tracks: The Broken, Far, Pearl of the Stars, The Black Rainbow (especially this one)
Does this review make you want to listen to the record? If so how would you rate it?
Thanks for reading!