Mini-Review Of Coheed and Cambria’s “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow”

The Band

Claudio Sanchez-Vocals, Guitar
Travis Stever-Backing Vocals, Guitar
Michael Todd-Backing Vocals, Bass
Taylor Hawkins-Drums

The Review

Finally, we have reached the end of the month-long journey into Coheed and Cambria’s catalog. The band had a rough two years between their last release and “Volume II,” with the band dealing with the release of their drummer Josh Eppard and the leaving, and eventual return, of bassist Michael Todd. Coheed and Cambria, specifically Claudio Sanchez, was able to work around this situation and release the album that ends the Amory Wars on a high note.

On this album, the band focused on producing tracks that are to the point and are able to get the story across in great detail. The band also seemed to kick the tempo up a notch, as most of the songs come out in a fury and stay that way. “The Running Free,” “No World For Tomorrow” and “Gravemakers & Gunslingers” immediately come to mind.

The main highlight of Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow is the five part epic “The End Complete.” After the brief interlude, “Radio Bye Bye” brings a more radio-friendly sound to the music, which has its positives (catchy chorus) and its negatives (sounds like any other song on the radio). Thankfully, the title track of the epic brings the album back together with its surprisingly meta-sounding middle section and creepy vocals by Claudio (“We’re going to get you, my love…”).

The five part epic ends with a one two punch of “The Road and the Damned” and “On The Brink.” Both tracks start off slow, “The Road and the Damned” turning into a brilliantly cheesy 80’s ballad, and “On The Brink”  a Pink Floyd-ish jam session. While the album ends too low-key for my liking, it is nice to see the band incorporating some of their earlier riffs from past albums to bring a sense of continuity to the end of the storyline.

Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow is a great finish to The Amory Wars. The band sounds tight as a collective unit and the story ends as well as it was going to. The future only looks bright for Coheed and Cambria, and I am interested to see where the band goes from here.