Coheed and Cambria
No World for Tomorrow
(Columbia)
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No World for Tomorrow is prog rock at its nerdiest, said Jim Farber in the New York Daily News. Coheed and Cambria closes the book on the “Dungeon and Dragons–style netherworld” it first introduced in 2002. The band, which is named after its fantasy’s lead characters, has nobly stretched a narrative over four albums. Thundering with snarly riffs, the final chapter of its apocalyptic Armory Wars proves Claudio Sanchez and his guitar-toting soldiers are still ready to rock. The result, though, comes off like an “unintentional parody of Rush, with bits of ’80s hair-metal pomp pumped in for extra corn.” Overly epic guitars and portentous lyrics make No World for Tomorrow laughable at times. The record could easily be the songbook for The Lord of the Rings: The Musical. You have to respect their “manic commitment to blazing tempos and sticky melodies,” said Nick Catucci in Blender. Coheed and Cambria believes—and might actually live—in this fantasy world and therefore can deliver these anthems “without a hint of fashionable emo irony.” The band’s convincing, thought-out concept leads you to believe its members are “almost too smart and ambitious for their own good,” said David Fricke in Rolling Stone. There’s “plenty here that is worthy of rewind,” but also an awful lot that will discourage many from listening in the first place.
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