Torment For The Waiting

Okay some lucky dude got a copy of No World For Tomorrow, and here is his take on it. I could barely read it and not crap in my chair. This just makes the wait seem like forever.

NWFT First Impressions
So Claudio basically walked into the studio with all those stirring emotions he's mentioned in the interviews and let it wail. This is the hardest rocking, loudest, and most instrumentally intense Coheed record yet, and I think even darker than Good Apollo 1. No, they have not reverted back to Second Stage or In Keeping Secrets, but they have also not made a carbon copy of Apollo 1 with a different story. Though the tracking of the record is quite similar, this album will knock you on your ass with ten times the force of GA1.

Whereas you could hear the band trying to emulate specific influences on GA1 (a.k.a. Once Upon Your Dead Body) on GA2 it's pure rock n roll. There's roughly four songs which gave me GA1 vibes, but the rest is a whole new beast. Solos are back and sharper and the riffage is on fire, seriously I feel like it's burning a hole in my CD player, this record is hot, flaming fire. Upon hearing the record, the cover artwork works perfectly, because you really feel the weight of that shirtless character heading towards a world being torn to pieces - both his outer layer of revenge, anger, and blood lust as well as his inner emotional conscience get a voice here.

Claudio, as usual, gives a stellar vocal performance - sounding a little higher than GA1 but equally character driven in his vocal stylings. Please do not overthink "The Running Free" it's one of only two songs that I would even begin to think of the word "pop" (there really is very little pop this time). It sounds so much better in context and it's an awesome awesome song in my opinion. Please also stop listening to Mother Superior acoustic right now. (This is really hard to do). Like everything else on this record, it is not a cute acoustic song you can put in your pocket, it is LARGE and a different animal, but vocally note for note like the acoustic version.

The End Complete is just about as insane as you've imagined it, and because the first half of the record is a rockfest, it doesn't feel like a total 180 likethe Willing Wells. The records ends with dignity and of course it's a super epic. !! POSSIBLE SPOILERS !!- Read below if you want tiny hints. All in all it's a pretty perfect and justified end to the saga - a full progression of a band's sound. Coheed and Cambria were the saviors of rock and roll but now..... they fucking ARE rock and roll.

Track Notes:
1) 1:14 Reaping: is not an instrumental but an intro and a good one

2) 5:06 No World For Tomorrow: is an absolute rockfest, kicks so much ass. It's the Welcome Home or the IKS of the record. No musical flashback, but a moment or two for the fans here.

3) 4:38 The Hound: Some different orchestration, an awesome chorus, and a killer killer solo

4) 4:55 Feathers: has some "pop" to it, but in a classic way. Think "Our Love" by The Outfield, sweet sounding light as a feather. Claudio's voice is gorgeous, as is the slower paced bluesy solo. A vaguely Junesong sounding vocal melody in the bridge.

5) 4:13 The Running Free

6) 6:38 Mother Superior: expanded instrumentally. Strings and full band. But Claud still sings like a crooning angel. Much respect for this change - all acoustic would have killed the record's pace.

7) 4:21 Gravemakers and Gunslingers: well what did you expect? This song spits in your face, gives you a wedgy, and slams you into your locker. So bad-ass. Hard Adrenalin rush bridge, out of this world solo.

8) 4:28 Justice in Murder: Great sing-along chorus. Like Mother May I on GA1, you feel the imminence of something big and bad on the horizon.

The End Complete

9)1:04 The Fall of House Atlantic: Surprise, it's just an intro. Almost 3-like in apocalyptic style.

10) 4:54 Radio Bye Bye: Somewhat straight forward, very GA1 sounding.

11) 7:44 The End Complete: The chorus is a pretty new sound for Coheed, but appropriately large-scale. Almost 8 minutes. At 2:47 there is something all you Cobalt and Calciums will be thrilled to hear. It was missing on GA1. The song gets wild in a Willing Well/2113 way.

12) 3:35 The Road And the Damned: Also a new sound to it. Extremely heart rending, it should stir every bone in your body. Very moving in an epic way.

13) 7:09 On The Brink: Begins totally soulful almost 2113 esque. Vocally extraordinary. 7 minutes. It progresses epically from here, with an unexpected but crazy good ending. It's not a 20 minute medley of every Coheed song, nor is it just silence, but it is something you'll be happy to hear, and definitely a fitting closer.