"Year of the black rainbow" CD by Coheed And Cambria

by Oliver Kube (29.03.2010) Finally. This is the last album of the five-part, complex Science Fiction saga "The armory wars" started by the Americans 2002. That shouldn’t only relieve the fans , but also the musicians (especially lyrics writer Claudio Sanchez) – now, there’s room for some new ideas… But first, the quartet finishes the series with a collection of great songs. Off we go with the epic composition "The broken", followed by versatile stuff like the straight Rock track "Guns of summer", groovy "Here we are juggernaut", the spheric title track and the dramatic power ballad "Pearl of the stars" with its acoustic start. The epitome of the band’s great style on this more than entertaining disc is "In the flame of error" – a first class post-Rock-meets-Prog hurricane.

by Dayal Patterson (07.04.2010) Progheads end era in surprising fashion SO Coheed And Cambria present the fifth and apparently final (though it seems the band aren’t fully willing to commit to that yet…) instalment of their musical sci-fi saga The Amory Wars. And while this album doesn’t see the story going out (perhaps that should be ‘coming in’, since, confusingly, this album is a prequel) with a whimper, neither is it quite the bang that fans might have expected for such a significant release. That’s not the criticism it might first appear, it’s simply that Year Of The Black Rainbow is less exuberant, less melodramatic than many past efforts, despite the fact that it sees the band pushing their sound into new territories. It’s certainly not predictable; Guns Of Summer raises eyebrows with its often drum’n’bass-like percussion and almost Skindred-like touches. All the same that twitchy composition style has given way to a more rounded, more flowing and, dare it be said, more mature approach. Yes, there are still solos, yes the guitars still dart left and right on brief tangents and yes, Claudio Sanchez’s vocals still soar, but while the progressive streak remains, the writing style feels more restrained, more straight-forward, while the production provides a less contrasting, more all-encompass-ing feel. The result is the band’s most flowing, and arguably most enjoyable, effort yet.