Review: Jack Price
The prog purists are gonna hate me on this one. And don’t get me wrong, I love me some deep lore. 11 albums in with two more to go, the die hard Coheed And Cambria and Amory Warsfans should be frothing with excitement, but for me, I’m totally lost.
With previous albums The Unheavenly Creatures and Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind, sure there were some interesting style changes, but they kept consistent throughout the albums and not a song on those albums was not enjoyable. The Father Of Make Believe is not as coherent for the everyday listener. While still an incredible album, there seems to be some disjointedness in the story telling to my ear.
Having said that, oh boy were there some catchy tunes on this record! The singles released for the album were perfectly picked for teasers, Blind Side Sonny is a great stand alone track and seems to be a promising villain in the graphic novels. Searching For Tomorrow and Someone Who Can definitely deliver more of what new fans are used to hearing from Coheed and Cambria, but more matured and progressed.
Goodbye Sunshine is a track that would have been a great choice to release as a single, but keeping it as the opening track of the album, after Yesterday’s Lost introduces the record, is an even better choice. It’s rocky, emotionally charged, poetic and a little bit cheeky in that it starts the album but describes the end of a character. Very true to classic Coheed.
The Father Of Make Believe (track) takes listeners on more of an introspective journey into the creative process of Claudio Sanchez, rather than following the stories usually intertwined in the bands music. Play The Poet, which follows on from Blind Side Sonny and shares the same jarring punked up prog style, is in stark contrast to the previous Meri of Mercy, slowed and somber reminiscent of The Pavilionfrom The Unheavenly Creatures.
The album concludes in the four part Continuum, with Welcome To Forever, Mr Nobody being my favourite track on the record, narrating part of Sirius Amory’s story. So It Goes closes off the record with its jaunty, upbeat tune, yet slightly strange lyrics. The first line ‘please, somebody, open this lock’ played in reverse is unnervingly sweet, and the music box meets symphony orchestra coda concludes the album.
It will be interesting to see the Amory Warsstory unfold and be matched with the tracks of Coheed and Cambria’s The Father Of Make Believe. Again, the prog purists may disagree on my views and understanding of this album but I hope with further clarification, the stories and composition make more sense for me. Was the album was enjoyable? Definitely. Did I want more? Yes. Am I complaining? Absolutely not.
THE FATHER OF MAKE BELIEVE OUT NOW
VIA VIRGIN MUSIC GROUP
