ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 22, 2007
By Steve Newton
Coheed and Cambria must be getting sick of the comparisons with Rush that have dogged the New York quartet since its inception, but the similarities continue unabated on the latest C&C disc, No World for Tomorrow.
Anyone who’s ever cranked up a Rush album and reveled in its adventurous brand of buoyant prog metal is gonna love this disc, which continues the apocalyptic storyline that runs through the band’s previous four albums, and is based on singer-guitarist Claudio Sanchez’s comic-book series The Armory Wars.
Sanchez and fellow guitarist Travis Stever are a hugely inventive six-string force; they skillfully imbue infectious riff fests like “Feathers”, “The Running Free”, and “Radio Bye Bye” with seriously poppy vibes. Drummer Taylor Hawkins, on loan from the Foo Fighters, slams everything into place like a regular Dave Grohl.
Listeners with a fantasy bent will appreciate the CD’s artwork, which depicts fierce monsters, futuristic cityscapes, and a cowboy with a demon horse and a melting face. Kudos, too, to local knob-twiddler Randy Staub for his superior job mixing the disc down at the Warehouse Studio in Gastown.