Product Description

US emo-prog wizards deliver the first volume in the fourth and final instalment of their wildly ambitious rock space opera. Darker in tone, as Claudio Kilgannon continues his quest to avenge the death of his parents Coheed and Cambria, it strays closer to the epic bombast of 70s rock than ever before. This music is complex, intricate and challenging yet never betrays melody or accessibility.

Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38138 in Music
• Released on: 2005-09-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Customer Reviews

Progressive brilliance
From the beautiful orchestral opener 'Keeping The Blade', 'Good Apollo...' is a record that never lets up, in imagination or quality. There is, quite simply, no weak tracks on this album.
Everything stands out, firstly the lyrics. In keeping with the concept covered on previous C&C releases, they are suitably poetic, yet express epic themes in accessible terms: 'would things have changed if I could have stayed'.
This is backed up by the songs themselves, which manage to be both insanely catchy, yet ambitious ( 'From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness', Apollo II: The Telling Truth'. This is balanced with more 'commercial' sounding songs like 'Wake Up', complete with an excellent slide guitar work, and 'The Suffering', which has a killer chorus.
The fact that the songs are both accessible and challenging is largely thanks to Claudio Sanchez, whose delivery can be emotive, such as on 'Always and Never', yet can turn angry, reflecting the hatred in some of the 'Good Apollo's...' lyrics (see 'Welcome Home').
It's rare to find a band that combines melody and invention to such challenging, yet accessible effect. With 'Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV...' Coheed & Cambria have done so with ease.

Metal? Whatever it is it's damn good
I must admit that when a friend recommended this to me, I wasn't expecting much, I thought it might have been 'just another metal band'.

I was pleasantly surpised.

This is not exactly what I call metal myself, but then again everyone has their own boundaries.I listen to a wide range of music myself. Then again what is metal these days? Anyway on to the album in question.

This is an excellent album,produced in the way of a story. And this story from start to beginning left me hooked. I have not yet listened to it in it's entirity in one sitting, but all the tracks are excellent. From the calm and laid back 'Wake Up' and 'Always and Never', which I must say compliment's Claudio Sanchez's child-like voice, to the riotous and loud anthems of 'Welcome Home' and 'Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial)'which contrast the slower, softer songs perfectly. Not many other metal bands do this, they either attempt it and fail miserably (DragonForce-Inhuman Rampage), or not at all (Trivium-Ascendancy). Listening to an hours worth of screaming isn't really a great album for me.

In summary, I say listen to this if you like the stuff of a metal band, with a few ballads thrown into the mix for good measure.

PS. This is definitely emo. Emo is the stuff of tears. This doesnt make me cry.

Good but a little samey...
Now I must confess despite my passion for Prog Metal, I have not heard any previous albums from Coheed & Cambria, and feel this album is a little samey, which is a shame as there is some decent material here.
In particular the eerie "Keeping the Blade", the gentle "Always and Never", the shattering "Welcome Home" before the fantastic single "Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial)" and finally "Apollo I - The Writer Writing".

These songs capture either atmosphere, or clever light metal with melody to provide crafted songs. However once past track 6 the album blurs together somewhat. I have listened to this album several times since its arrival but just cant get further into it, I conclude therefore the variety is the first half of the album and for those concerned with the story concept, it doesnt appear to go anywhere, however this maybe due to having not heard previous albums.

This album is to me at least an indication of what the band can achieve, but have yet to fully deliver. Perhaps planning a single album, rather than a series could help bring out this potential.

Coheed and Cambria clearly have great vocal arrangements, a smooth voice to suit the lightly tinged metal guitars and in the aforementioned tracks some good melodies. ...Burning Star IV will ultimately be best recieved by the hardcore Co&Ca fans.