NYC's COHEED AND CAMBRIA, a four-piece, twin-guitar outfit that espouses traces of power pop, prog rock, and emo all in one interesting sonic stew. Lazy critics have compared the band to RUSH, but I find very little similarities with the godly Canadian trio here, except maybe for some drum fills and Claudio Sanchez's Geddy-like nasal vocals. COHEED AND CAMBRIA bring harmonized vocals, choppy guitars, and lots of changes and heady lyrics to the table.

Does it sound good? Some if it sounds really good to me. For example, "Cuts Marked in the March of Men" really drew me in with some very metallic-sounding compressed guitar riffage and solo nuggets, burbling basslines, and a basic formula that seems to meld stuff like AT THE DRIVE IN and MARS VOLTA, but with an abstract proggy influence. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't reach for my air guitar during this one, as well as some later tracks like "A Favor House Atlantic". Slick production aside, some of this stuff I found to be rather arse-kicking in a peculiar way.

However,the band doesn't carry this vibe consistently from track to track. Tracks like "The Camper Velorium II: Backend of Forever" (you can see why I was drawn to the "Operation:Mindcrime" kinda titles) and "Blood Red Summer" pack about as much punch as the theme from the TV show "Friends". The poppiness of the vocals just overtake all of the band's better qualities in about half of the tracks here, which is a real shame. At least BRYAN ADAMS doesn't confuse us with those heady lyrics.

Basically, this will go to the back of my collection. Would you eat at a restaurant that advertises "Half of our food is good"? There's just too much good stuff out there to waste time with an album that goes from "excellent" to "god-awful" in the space of five minutes. But make your own choice.

- Marchman

OFFICIAL SITE: www.coheedandcambria.com

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