Coheed & Cambria Band • Page 110

what a deranged post

 

Hell, they’ve been doing it from the jump with 33 and Devil in Jersey City

 

I mean OK but it's not at all about hooks being bad. Most of the older hooky songs had awesome leads or riffage underneath them. 33 and Time Consumer and Three Evils are fucking amazing. The ones I listed are p much just big chords, whether guitar or synth, with generic vocal lines over them. I guess it's just weird to me when tracks strip out almost everything that makes this band uniquely great when they're at their best, but it's still widely viewed as totally on par with the SSTB/IKS hooks with brilliant riffs.

 

I really don't think his songwriting approached has changed based on what fans appreciate, otherwise they'd have already done a fan service-y total prog fest like GA1, but that hasn't happened. I think Claudio just likes writing all kinds of songs, and some come out better than others. It is funny to me you singled out Love Protocol though, that's probably my favorite song of theirs that is very straightforward.

 

alright so this is something I've had a gripe with since Afterman. What is Travis doing? they used to have some super cool back and forth guitar parts, especially on songs like Ten Speed, Crossing the Frame, Willing Well II, then all over NWFT, then the dude just... stopped? I don't know if Claudio just took over most of the songwriting and Travis just plays whatever Claudio writes, but his parts feel... not that inspired, to say the least.

 

Agreed with this. The fun leads have been lacking for a minute.

 

Stares in Toys

 

Comatose??? those guitars in the verses are lifted directly from IKSSE3

 

I frequently feel like I’m listening to a completely different band than the rest of the thread when it comes to this band’s modern era

 

Comatose and Liars Club definitely threw me back into their prime catchy era of IKS and GA. I'm not saying he never shows up, but he seems to take a backseat a lot more than he used to.

 

I think he shows up just about as much as he always has

 

Also seeing them right after the album came out with a very Vaxis heavy set pretty much confirmed to me he’s still in top form

 

It's not a Travis riff but the verse riff in Rise Naianasha is a straight up IKSSE riff

 

The leads are definitely still there, they just seem way more buried in the mix than before

 

Yeah like, I THINK Travis is doing something cool during the chorus of Rise, but I really can't hear it other than it faintly following the melody Claudio is singing. The last part of the last chorus (over and out there) has a real cool sounding lead that is way too faint.

 

Right. I think it's more a mixing issue of the recordings than a "where are Travis' sick leads?".

 

I think it can be both. You can convince me Travis isn't even on Shoulders. The main riff is Claudio, there's nothing other than a rhythm guitar in the chorus. Maybe that's him that comes in right after Zach's little bass riff in the second verse? The guitar solo is clearly Claudio.

I love the dude's playing, I want him turned up/locked in with Claudio like it seemed they used to be is all.

 

I can hear the stuff he’s doing just fine tbh don’t think the mixing is the problem because both Vaxis albums sound really great. I don’t think there is a problem. The leads are there and I can hear them.

 

If you can hear Travis loud and clear on Shoulders and Rise then I need to go get my ears checked.

Preferred Travis styles: little bluesy sounding riffs he adds on The Gutter, The Dark Sentencer, and Ladders of Supremacy. He's definitely still there, just seems more "pick and choose" than before, which, maybe that's just them deciding when it needs to be a focal point or when it's okay to stay in the background.

EDIT: alright one more thing I want to note and I'll drop it, the part in Ladders of Supremacy at 2:28 sounds awesome, TURN THAT UP

 

For sure, song is sick and jolts you back into the good old days after a run of songs I could take or leave. It's one of the few times lately Claudio really melds offbeat riffs into a song that's also catchy as hell like he used to all day long.

I feel like the golden era of SSTB-GA had records that were laid out as a few totally proggy tracks, then maybe one or two actually straightforward pop songs... and the rest was this awesome fusion of pop hooks and great, creative, multilayered riffing. After that, it's usually been a couple token prog-leaning songs that are still great like Rise and Ladders, but the rest feels much more... generic pop or synth or alt-rock with stadium choruses being the draw. That's not 100% true of every record, stuff like Number City or Evagria is experimental and interesting... but the overall trend is there. I guess this is a subtle thing for some fans, but it's huge for me and I can't overstate how much those first 3 records tower above the pack in my rankings.

There's prob something to the production being part of the issue, too. I revisited Liars Club for the first time since the album dropped and yeah, there's some cool guitar work buried in the mix, especially the back half of the chorus.

 

You probably do. Most people do. Anyone born after 1980 has astronomically worse hearing than previous generations thanks to ear buds and MP3’s.

 

Shameless plug since the thread is seeing activity, but I accidentally bought an extra copy of the new pressing of SSTB if anyone needs it. It’s the green/white/yellow splatter. I’d sell it for $35 shipped.

 

Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV: Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness

1. Keeping the Blade/Always & Never
2. Welcome Home
3. Wake Up
4. The Suffering
5. Ten Speed (Of God's Blood & Burial)
6. The Willing Well: III - Apollo II: The Telling Truth
7. Apollo I: The Writing Writer
8. Once Upon Your Dead Body
9. Crossing the Frame
10. The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court
11. The Willing Well: IV - The Final Cut
12. The Willing Well: II - From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
13. Mother May I
14. The Willing Well: I - Fuel for the Feeding End

I feel like my rankings for this one will be pretty different to most but I just love the softer songs on here and I've always struggled with The Willing Well. I did find myself liking that much more this time around though. I also think this is my favourite part so far in terms of the story, it gets proper whacky and meta.

Current Ranking

Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV: Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
The Second Stage Turbine Blade

Didn't expect this one either since SSTB was my favourite of the three a few days ago. There's not much difference for me between the top two and it's hard to really pick which one I like more. I think IKS has higher highs and GA has lower lows but makes up for it with how good the majority of it is.

I'm going to check out NWFT next but it'll take me a lot longer to rank that one since I need to spend some time with it first.

 

you’re figuring out something I’ve long known: SSTB is a fantastic memory of an album but doesn’t hold up as well as their other stuff under further scrutiny. It’s like jimmy eat worlds clarity to me or thursdays full collapse. an album held up by the bands fan base as a classic and their absolute best but in actuality they went on to do much bigger and better and far more interesting things after, which always divides fan bases and why you get so many people swearing a bands first album is their best even when it’s obviously not true. that’s not to say SSTB isn’t great, it obviously is, but it’s not even close when stacked up to the Vaxis records in my opinion. Or really any other coheed besides YOTBR and TCBTS. I know tons of people in this thread are about to come at me but I’m speaking my truth.

 

My man compares SSTB to Clarity and says "doesn't hold up" in the same breath. C'MON, MAN! YOU'RE KILLING US!