Kingcrimsonprog Coheed And Cambria’s fourth Studio album No World For Tomorrow is a real corker; a well written and wonderfully produced record that picks up right where the previous Burning Star IV record left off.

This album contains just the right mixture of shimmering David Gilmore influenced leads, metal influenced breakdowns and catchy sing along vocal hooks that’ll stick in your head for days on end.

The main problem that the band have is getting people to give them a fair listen in the first place. Some fans will always have a problem categorising this band and end up dismissing them no matter what. Coheed were never as progressive as the Mars Volta, never as metal as Dream Theatre and too progressive and metal influenced to be just a regular indie/alt/emo band.

Regardless of what genre the album may be, or who the band do or don’t sound like, this album when taken on its own merits is undeniably good; full of great lyrics, excellent vocal melodies and a sense of cohesion that many bands lack.

The only negative thing that I can say about this album is that occasionally the production and tonal choices can make certain sections of the more commercial songs like ‘Feathers,’ ‘Running Free,’ or ‘Mother Superior,’ at times seem too saccharine, too slick and a little overblown. This is a very minor flaw however, and doesn’t apply to the majority of the album, or when material from the album is performed live.

Stand out songs include the brilliant single ‘Gravemakers And Gunslingers,’ which is possibly the most fun Coheed song to date, the catchy fast paced ‘The Hound Of Blood And Rank,’ and ‘The End Complete,’ which is quite frankly staggering. Furthermore I still rate this album’s title tracks as one of the best songs the band have ever released.

At the end of the day, this album boasts some of the best guitar work that the band ever recorded, mixing both melodic and hectic solos with powerful riffing and a few soft ballads to create an powerful and enjoyable album. If you liked their previous album From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness; or as it is commonly known, Good Apollo (part one of a set in which No World For Tomorrow is part two), you’ll love this.

arcane-beautiful When this album came out, their was alot of hype. I mean alot of hype! And to be honest, it was odd to see a band have such hype for an album which really was quite a challenge to make.

This album was a challenge for the band, mainly because the band saw some schisms and failures in their line up, with both drummer and bassist leaving before the album was even in its foetal stages. But the album's continuation still continued, with the remaining 2 members working on the material, and bassist (Michael Todd), coming back into the band. Now the only problem was finding a drummer...and who better than Chris Pennie...although slight problem...for legal reasons he could not actually play on the album. So the band seeked Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) for help...and here is where the problem lies.

Now Taylor Hawkins is an ok drummer. He's nothing too special, and he fails in comparison to Joshua Eppard & Chris Pennie. And it's one of these factors that weakens this album. Coheed used to have such dynamic drums, with different accents, time signatures and what have you not. But Taylor Hawkins simple 4/4 style, which for standard rock is good enough, still doesnt highlight any of Coheed's music. Now I know this album is slightly more straightforward in style, but so is their new album, and it sounds way better rhthyms style. And this also weakens Michael's contribution, with his basslines usually being highly diverse, and now just being watered down to suit Mr. Hawkins needs.

Now besides that, the style and musical direction has changed. The "emo" tag they've been given has been completely vanished, with their earlier sounds and influences being discarded, but to be honest, it was things like that actually made them slightly more interesting. Although, I'm still loving the sound on it.

Some of the songs are more straightforward, with no interesting twists and turns, with songs having a more strophic structure. The songs also seem to be slightly longer, at an average, with the shoter songs being just about 4 minutes, whilst on the first Good Apollo, a 3 minute song showed alot more and had alot more density than these tracks. Having said that, I still think these songs are great, and like the progression these guys are going in. This album also seems to have the bands most catchiest chorus' and a more straightfoward "prog" style really highlights these sing along moments. And Claudio's voice has never been better in my opinion. Lyrically, the album isn't as smart as the first 3, and the concept at times can be a bit of a head scratcher, but it's the end of the saga really, so what more do you want. It's a good enough ending I feel, and to be honest, if it was any different, I probabbly wouldn't have liked it as much as I do this album.

The build up towards the release was a tiny bit of a let down, but it was still a great rush, and the weekly updates where really fun to watch, and keep up with. The artwork of the album is also pretty damn cool.

1. The Reaping - Great atmopsheric intro, with voice and guitars really complementing each other. Very simple, but incredibly effective. 10/10

2. No World For Tomorrow - This is one of the songs from this album that still gives me tingles every time I hear it. This is ONE EPIC SONG, and in my opinion, is the best song on the album, and maybe one of their best songs...ever. It's just so diverse, with such power, emotion and just some amazing guitar riffs, that still confuse me to this day. 10/10

3. The Hound (Of Blood & Rank) - One of their best chorus' in my opinon. The arrangement really is spectacular and the song is just fantastic. 10/10

4. Feathers - Wow is this song catchy.Great chorus, and a great poppy moment. The arrangement is also great as well. And their is a video for this song, but its really stupid...so I reccomend you watch it haha. 10/10

5. The Running Free - This was the first update I saw. A live version of this song, which was pretty bad quality. But I could tell that this song was pretty good. Very catchy and just classic Coheed. 10/10

6. Mother Superior - A pre update really. An acoustic version. Now trying to pick a favourite between these 2 is hard, cause I love the acoustic version, but the album version is so grand, and the strings do a great job highlighting the beauty of this song. This is also a tricky song to sing and play at the same time. 10/10

7. Gravemakers & Gunslingers - This is a great fast paced song, and is very rocking. Another great chorus and some interesting lyrics. It's one of my personal favourites. The changes throughout are pretty cool too. 10/10

8. Justice In Muderd - Good chorus, and the songs is pretty good. Definitly not one of the albums strongest moments. 9/10

THE END COMPLETE

WARNING!: Compared to the Willing Well...meh, you'll see...

I.The Fall Of House Atlantic - Ok, as intro, this is pretty epic. Quite cheesy, but pretty epic nonthless. 10/10

II. Radio Bye Bye - The chorus is pretty catchy, but the song does go on a bit, and it really should have been shorter. 8/10

III. The End Complete - Ok, after some weak moments, this song picks it up more. This song is pretty epic, although not Willing Well epic, cause when comparing these "suites" this one is more kind of lack lustre with no real conncetcions, whilst the Willing Well was more exciting. Although, this song is the crowning moment of this "suite", with epic vocals, kick ass riffs, and a pretty cool chorus. I love the ending too. 10/1

IV. The Road & The Damned - Now this is a nice wee soft moment. A very beautiful song, with some really nice lyrics. 10/10

V. On The Brink - The first part I love. It has a very Elton John feel to it, with a great vocal arrangement. That "hail" bit is pretty stupid though, although I like the ending. 9/10

CONCLUSION: If any other band released this album...it would be their masterpiece. But because Coheed did it, its not as good as their others. Don't get me wrong, this album is still amazing, but it is quite weak at times. Although, the bands history and turbulence is partly to blame, so don't be hating it too much, its better than what most bands try to achieve.

Conor Fynes 'No World For Tomorrow' - Coheed & Cambria (8/10)

While I have been able to recognize a level of progressiveness in each of Coheed & Cambria's releases (to varying degrees) this album definately has the most progressive flavour to it. Songs like the title track 'No World For Tommorow' sound nothing like the emo stylings they had earlier in their career with 'In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth.' Nowadays, although theres still that mainstream feel to some of the songs, most of the music (especially the songs in 'The End Complete' suite) has a good prog vibe to it, and even the songs that don't pass as being complex are still really good and catchy ('Feathers.)

This album starts out fantastically, to say the least. The acoustic prologue 'The Reaping' is a nice change from the traditionally boring Coheed album intros. It leads into the epic, melodic 'No World For Tommorow,' which is one of the strongest tracks on the album.

'Feathers' is the next highlight (the third track is nothing special) which has a definate 'single' feel to it. It's really a great song, with some vintage guitar sounds. It sounds like an above-the-crowd 80's pop rock song, which by definition sounds really bad, but trust me, it's a beautiful song.

'The Running Free' is another great song, and the first song I listened to off of this album. The vocals from Claudio are exceptional; a very emotional (and occasionally intense) performance.

'Mother Superior' is a charming ballad that Claudio originally composed for piano, but transposed it onto guitar. It has a bit of a 'frontier' campfire sound to it, without sounding like country. The last highlight before the suite rolls around.

The rest of the stand-alone songs are alright, but not superb. The suite (a loose suite of sorts has been present on all save the first C&C album) is probably the most cohesive of the suites, and the best to listen to from start to finish as a suite, while the other suites worked exclusively on a stand-alone song base only.

The suite offers the most progressive dish this album has to offer. The typical suite on a Coheed & Cambria album isn't your usual 'epic.' It's usually passed me as a collection of songs that the band figured would appeal more to their prog audience, over the others and have a connecting lyrical theme, that I have yet to analyze and look into, although the idea of having a concept running through multiple albums is very interesting. The final highlight this album has to offer is the grandiose closer 'On The Brink,' which sounds like it wouldn't be out of place on a Broadway musical, before breaking down into a hard rock finale.

And thus technically ends the plot arc of the Coheed & Cambria's story, the 'Amory Wars.' Although there's still yet another scheduled release from the band, it functions as a prequel to 'The Second Stage Turbine,' which makes this album the conceptual 'last' album by this band. It's a very dramatic album, and of all of Coheed & Cambria's works, this should appeal the most to prog-fans. Four stars.

Time Signature Gravediggers and guitarslingers...

Genre: progressively inclined alternative metal

Coheed and Cambria continue their journey from emo rock based hard rock to progressively inclined alternative metal on this album, which, like its predecessor is very much a heavy metal album in my book.

A lot of the tracks are all out metal tracks, and this album is heavier than any of the preceding releases. Tracks like "No World For Tomorrow", "The Running Free" (no, not a cover of Iron Maiden's "Running Free"), "Gravemakers & Gunslingers", "Justice in Murder", and "Justice in Murder", and also "The Hound" are straight metal tracks, although they do, of course, contain elements from emo rock, progressive rock and alternative rock. Most of the "The End Complete Tracks" (no, there's no relations between this and the Obituary song) are more in the alternative metal department, while "Feathers" reminds me of 1980s glam/pop metal musically.

As with the previous album, I think this is a fine metal album with a lot of alternative rock and progressive rock elements and catchy melody lines. I'd recommend it to fans of traditional heavy metal, alternative metal, progressive rock and metal, and hard rock as well.