I have a complicated relationship with Coheed and Cambria. They’re the musical equivalent of Marmite, for two very specific reasons. The first is the old “you either love it [them] or hate it [them]”, which is fair enough; I know Claudio Sanchez’s voice takes some getting used to.

The second is the potential stigma that comes with saying you like them. Much of their fanbase also listen to bands like My Chemical Romance and Hawthorne Heights. ‘Nuff said?

I don’t think the emo label is justified, in all fairness. Yes, their lyrical content is emotive, but as far as I’m concerned they have had nothing to do with the constricting trousers and copious eyeliner that are the trademarks of the emo scene.

So yeah, I like them. So shoot me. Any band that can write both In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3 and The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut (ignoring the names) deserves a chance. Their first two albums were really good, the third had its moments, and the fourth was actually pretty damn catchy when you got past the crap songs.

Add to this fairly impressive back catalogue the that the fact that Chris Pennie, former drummer of The Dillinger Escape Plan, is now a part of the band, and I was fairly confident that Year of the Black Rainbow was going to be a pretty good release.

Boy was I wrong.

Sort of.

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