COHEED AND CAMBRIA: The Unheavenly Creatures (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

After the parenthesis "The Color Before The Sun" which saw Coheed & Cambria momentarily departing from its conceptual thread of the beginnings and showing a more immediate and catchy group, the Americans decided to continue the adventures of the Amory Wars. This ninth album inaugurates a series of five discs and for this first act, "Unheavenly Creatures", Coheed & Cambria releases all the paraphernalia to make this narrative work as credible as possible, with a very cinematographic iconography, the incarnation of the story in very displayed characters and a novel book published with the complete edition of the disc. Almost all the components of the complete work of art are brought together. The only thing missing is the movie that will bring this creation to life.

Coheed & Cambria has produced here its densest disc with fifteen titles for nearly 1h20 of music. The Americans wanted to make the listening of this intimidating conceptual disc as fluid as possible. To do so, they did not skimp on interludes and introductions in the form of short narrative or epic sequences typical of adventure cinema as in 'Prologue', 'Queen of the Dark', 'It Walks Among Us' or 'Night-Time Walkers'. The band was also betting on a certain density that has more to do with the albums before 'The Color Before The Sun', working on the twist of its riffs, the harmonic quality of its vocals and investing in various styles, more than on direct formats and consensual melodies inherited from its last album.

'Prologue' introduces the record as it should be, with a dark voice and effects to immerse the listener in this science-fiction scenario soundtrack. The hostilities are launched with a powerful 'The Dark Sentencer', pushed by the encouragement of a fictional audience followed by a jovial 'Unheavenly Creatures' with its offbeat keyboards and 'Toys' with its unifying chorus. Coheed And Cambria then launches out in two titles with strong character which represent the most sophisticated part of the disc with the Dantesque 'Black Sunday' whose riffs make think of Queensryche and the dark 'Queen of the Dark' with a refrain at the same time melodic and sought-after, provider of a palpable emotion.

Thereafter Coheed & Cambria will make cohabit simple structures and immediate refrains with various styles, of which some enrich the global rendering while others dull it. Fortunately the latter are rare and are more likely to make you smile. One thinks in particular of the easy, not to say silly, songs of 'True Ugly, 'The Gutter', 'It Walks Among Us' (and its "oh oh oh oh") or 'Old Flames' (its annoying "na na na na na na") or the cold and dated robotic voices of 'Night-Time Walkers'. Good ideas include the stirring 'Love Protocol' with its Police riff, 'The Pavilion (A Long Way Back)' with its string arrangements and cultivated tension or 'The Gutter' with its Queen-like solo. The end of the record runs out of steam with four less punchy and memorable tracks that weigh down a generously packed album. Moreover, the choice to end on an acoustic ballad fading out is not the wisest choice.

Coheed & Cambria has always cultivated an expanded signature allowing them to approach complex rock with the same affinity as more formatted rock. "Vaxis - Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures" is a synthesis of everything that characterizes Coheed & Cambria, from the best to the most disconcerting. All is not perfect in this long and dense album which would have gained in percussion and fluidity by shedding a few tracks. This in no way detracts from the overall quality of the rest of the record and the merit of Coheed & Cambria for embarking on this ambitious project. - Official website

COHEED AND CAMBRIA

THE UNHEAVENLY CREATURES

ROADRUNNER RECORDS

ROCK