Vaxis I did a similar thing especially with song lengths, but instead of three minutes, a lion’s share were in the five-minute range which really dragged the album down by the end. First impression? This is better than Vaxis I to me. I’m working on my third listen as I type this and I haven’t been fatigued or turned away by Coheed’s approach. Not necessarily safe like you said, but, for instance, track 2 to 9 are all in the three-minute window with very little variation outside of some stylistic choices. Any first impressions?ĭ: Yeah… this album is weirdly both all over the place and almost painfully consistent. That being said, once we get to the final act of the record, we do get some classic Coheed with some new details that I enjoy a lot. The huge fuzz/octave riff on “Shoulders” is also unique and hard hitting. Not sure how far you are into the record, but they go places with autotune and dancepop that is commensurate with some of Claudio’s other stuff, but certainly new for Coheed. They do a lot of things as a band, and not all as well as others, but they never play it safe. And that’s not a bad thing – who wants to see a band recycle the same material for as many years and albums as Coheed has been going for?įrankly, I admire how much they expand their sound. However, the art they’re pursuing is just different now than what I first experienced with them. That being said, I still think they’re a really solid band and incredibly strong songwriters. There’s definitely been a tonal (and to my ears, move towards more polished production) shift since Afterman came out that has marked a fair amount of deviation from what I loved about Coheed when I first encountered them. Still, I was excited to dig into Vaxis II no matter what and I’m ultimately glad I did. I will always like them and appreciate their success, even if it’s from the distant past. Tons of other fans seem to love what they do regardless and I think that’s great. It’s wildly selfish and unreasonable for them to rehash their old stuff or expect them to make an album for me. If I don’t like it, I still have their old albums to go to. Part of my engaging with Coheed ever since Vaxis I – which I liked at first, but haven’t felt compelled to return to much since – is keeping expectations in check, and letting them do what they wanna do. They are clearly in a different mindset the past couple projects overall, despite expanding on their heavily involved space opera concept still ( TCBTS notwithstanding). We haven’t seen them since The Afterman and they are by far my favorite form of the band, but… it’s been years. My hopes? Honestly, to see epic, proggy Coheed back in full force. What were you thinking going into Vaxis II?ĭavid: I bought the hyper deluxe edition big boy book of The Color Before The Sun that has my name in it – that’s probably my biggest claim to fandom for Coheed, but I’ve loved them for almost twenty years now. Overall, the singles suggested that Vaxis II may be the most polished, poppy release of the band’s career, and a move away from some of the bigger progressive moments of the past albums that I loved so much. There wasn’t anything hinting at the more towering prog epics of Vaxis I’s “The Dark Sentencer” or the gritty edges of “The Gutter”. I was pleasantly surprised by Vaxis I, but the singles leading up to Vaxis II seemed to be a pretty mixed bag of mid-tier but fun, catchy tracks. I have to say, personally, I was a bit nervous. Otherwise, I’d be curious what your hopes for the album were. If you want to add anything about your love for the band David, go ahead. But if you don’t want to read all that, it suffices to say that two EIN editors/writers (me included) have Keywork tattoos. If you as readers want a detailed backgrounder on our respective affinities for the progressive/emo rock legends, you can read our review of the band’s last record, or David’s two-part breakdown of Coheed’s catalog ( here and here). Landon: So I know you and I both love Coheed and Cambria.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |