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Rating: As rough as a newly discovered diamond. At first glance, that's the impression listening to "The Second Stage Turbine Blade", Coheed & Cambria's debut album, gives off. Probably not the best record by Sanchez & Co., it exhibits all those characteristics (I absolutely don't want to talk about flaws) that emerge from a band's first work: unclean sounds, musical immaturity, daring sound effects that perhaps go beyond the overall context of the collection, various experiments, Sanchez's voice still embellishing too much with falsettos that don't quite fit into the recording as a whole. Characteristics, because even at their beginnings, Coheed & Cambria show what their sound is made of. Characteristics, because after a more attentive listen, one realizes that what are generally categorized as "the debut's little flaws" are the peculiarities of a group capable of immediately and arrogantly projecting themselves onto the world music stage. After all, from this first album, one truly recognizes Coheed's vocation, showing they know how to skillfully handle the raw and violent sounds of hard-core and manage themselves without getting lost within the emocore galaxy.
The intro is that blend of sounds that will accompany all of the group's productions, then it's up to "Time Consumer". With this track, Coheed creates that dark mix that strongly permeates the music of the quartet to this day: soft and gentle arpeggios that create the anticipatory atmosphere for the guitar outburst, crowned by Claudio's voice. The whole thing, naturally, in perfect Coheed style, who on this occasion collaborated with Dr. Know on guitar to create a sound that is both sweet and sophisticated. "Devil in Jersey City" remains one of the band's most famous singles, which here magically creates a perfect mix of metal and hardcore, accompanied by fine riffs and voices alternating with that of frontman Sanchez; but all this seems like nothing compared to the gem of the album, in my opinion the most intense and emotionally engaging song of recent years, "Everything Evil". In this track, it truly seems the four let loose their musical impulses: Sanchez's guitar, recalling the singer's origins (Puerto Rican father, Italian mother), starts speaking Latin, freely dialoguing with Stever's hardcore, while Todd is not passively observing but laying the foundation with his bass and Eppards is possessed on the drums. Sanchez's screams thrust the listener into the drama of Jesse and Claudio, who, in a passive trance, is caught by the strong passion: the final minutes are overwhelming for the strong barrage of sensations and emotions they evoke, the emotional whirlwind unleashed by the four reaches its peak.
"Delirium Trigger" does not disperse the atmosphere created; with guitar roars nearing distortion and drums displaying the hardness of cymbals, another masterpiece by Coheed & Cambria is witnessed, which alternates hardcore strength with calm sounds leading to other violent and aggressive ones. However, a nearly perfect first part of the record does not correspond to an equally valid second part; certainly, melodies remain that underline the concepts previously expressed by the band, but the impression is that the remaining tracks, even though they are quite valid, are too lacking in impact when compared to the first ones. What is most tiresome is the exhausting length of the songs: "Hearshot Kid Disaster", while it maintains a relatively high rhythm and enjoys all the musical technique the band possesses, loses strength due to excessive repetitiveness. Nonetheless, one cannot deny that Coheed & Cambria maintain a high level of their music, just look at "33" and "Junesong Provision", even though the latter suffers too much from Sanchez's vocalizations. "Neverender" somewhat forcibly fits into the album's framework, while in "God Send Conspirator" they pay for inexperience and the risk of musical experiments.
Certainly, "The Second Stage Turbine Blade" breaks away from the norms of a classic debut album; though this leads to a drop in intensity in the more "experimental" and less measured moments, it also results in the creation of a true emotional spiral that strongly drags the listener into the fantastic world of Coheed & Cambria.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Time Consumer (05:43)
The young stale memories of, play the role to your part.
Librarian find me the pole, the one that kicks your head in.
To my own time, roll your own innocence by.
Grab on to my sleeve... the one that grabs at your ankle!
Debate to understand that we all have a flaw,
Then fail to represent your life as you know it.
God grant you one wish: to turn back the time.
Correct and create, making sense of...
Me and my star, Matthew goodnight!
You know, by law, when you'll be forgiven!
Maria my star, Matthew goodnight!
You know, by lord, you'll be forgiven!
So they pulled your confidence down with those verbal discrepancies.
Now and then you'll gain what they've lost through a challenge of unpronounced.
Pain is only a pulse if you just stop feeling it!
You might be able to use the very things that make us up...
Me and my star, Matthew goodnight!
You know, by law, when you'll be forgiven!
Maria my star, Matthew goodnight!
You know, my lord...
Wait now, here, when will you believe me?
I'm merely asking you to help me.
When did I say to murder?
Wait now, here, please hear me out.
Time consumer...
Time consuming...
Consume me...
Down and out now...
Me and my star, Matthew goodnight!
You know, by law, when you'll be forgiven!
Maria my star, Matthew goodnight!
You know, by lord, you'll be forgiven!
Na ha ha haa, ahh...
Na ha ha ha ha... You know...
Tonight, in the promise you write...
Na ha ha haa, ahh...
Na ha ha ha ha... You know...
Goodnight, in the promise you write...
03 Devil in Jersey City (04:48)
(Hehe, Shabutie)
New Jersey bound when sound asleep
They'll find you at your most vulnerable
Poll position - Speak up, let out
When down the street the corner boys fuck shit up
Scream loud, scream sayonara oh, oh, oh
Sweet Josephine will you follow me home?
Scream loud, scream sayonara oh, oh, oh
Sweet Josephine will you fuck me back home?
Let's fire it up, ah ah, now...
Let's fire it up, ah, ah, sayonara...
Don't let them scare you
When you're down on the floor bleeding bastard
You'll be getting home real soon..
And I'll pray for you high health
Don't let them scare you
When you're down on the floor bleeding bastard
You'll be getting home real soon
Speak up, let out, caught in the crossfire
Compared to the step to the bone that might break
It's too late to find a better way out of this
With the finest regards that I lost in the cracks of this street
Scream loud, scream sayonara oh, oh, oh
Sweet Josephine will you follow me home?
Scream loud, scream sayonara oh, oh, oh
Sweet Josephine will you fuck me back home?
Let's fire it up, ah ah, now...
Let's fire it up, ah, ah, sayonara...
Don't let them scare you
When you're down on the floor bleeding bastard
You'll be getting home real soon..
And I'll pray for you high health
Don't let them scare you
When you're down on the floor bleeding bastard
You'll be getting home real soon
Don't let them scare you
Take me home...
When you run, they'll follow you
05 Delirium Trigger (04:47)
We're now up here alone - Terror on the intercom
Can someone save us?
Systems malfunction, Blast it this damn machine
Over and out captain
Something lurks creeps on the counter top somewhere behind you
Parasitic cyst I can't stand to watch, it's coming up and out of your chest
Remember when we were young?
Sit up right on the table, a photograph of Earth feeding me a way back
Frightened, I tear alone, or maybe not the the only one there
Hello... hello, when it rings will you answer?
There corner tall short stance, it's you, come on... kill me.
You made a good friend to me
But while you were outnumbered and torn they made us do things...
Oh dear God, I don't feel alive when you're cut short of misery
Will you pray it be the end?
Give a look surprise wide eyed to me
Then you'll know just what I am
The scare that triggers your fear
Come know me in a different light now
Come know me as God.
You've made a good friend to me
But while you were outnumbered and torn
You made us do things to you...
Run sand hourglass, it's my time, will I be worth?
Spin 'round carousel, your horse isn't screwed in.
Oh dear God, I don't feel alive when you're cut short of misery
Will you pray it be the end?
Give a look surprise wide eyed to me
Then you'll know just what I am
The scare that triggers your fear
Come know me in a different light now
Come know me as God.
06 Hearshot Kid Disaster (05:42)
Still searching for your call today sit down, and structure will you be the engineer?
Still tired and dreaming out against and overboard
When pain kills you'll hate me and wait for or
Then call me crazy and pretend I left us discontent and afraid
So what, so I'm crazy, then send me justice and I'll have Paris in flames
Still searching for your faith in the arm that killed the president
Relapse waiting here for
Still searching for your face in the crowd that killed the president
Relapse waiting here for
I need Mayo
I won't fail you now
Dear Captain send the S.O.S
When we're gonna go down
I need Mayo
I won't fail you now (Oh God you're all fucked up for sure)
Dear Captain send the S.O.S
When we're gonna go down
Wound open and squeezing my heart against this pain inflicts
And in passion I bleed for it
But with this what they gave me this book
And flint, and a match to go with it
Still searching for your faith in the arm that killed the president
Relapse waiting here for
Still searching for your face in the crowd that killed the president
Relapse waiting here for
I need Mayo
I won't fail you now
Dear Captain send the S.O.S
When we're gonna go down
I need Mayo
I won't fail you now (Oh God you're all fucked up for sure)
Dear Captain send the S.O.S
When we're gonna go down
Have you ever heard the lyrics he sang?
In his thoughtful transmission the words lost sentence remain
Sing his song, sing his song loud
Structure will you be the engineer?
Where's your song or have you lost the key or tone?
Thank God for your strength, will you hold your breath?
Waiting for me to exhale in the short life lived.
In my...
HOLD YOUR BREATH!
When you live! (When you live!)
Tonight...
HOLD YOUR BREATH!
When you live!
When you live!
Ooh, live...
You breathe!
HOLD YOUR BREATH!
You breathe!
HOLD YOUR BREATH!
HOLD YOUR BREATH!
HOLD YOUR BREATH!
HOLD!
HOLD!
07 33 (03:31)
It's not what you have learned,
But what they said about you under your shirt.
You know they never will...
They'll make sense of what you gave them,
And now it's all down hill from here.
Well in case you break my fall,
We're bringing it home!
Patrick, short flip and outside
Boundary lines.
(I'm running you down...) Ooh yeah, well nothing looks right from up here.
(Inside out...) I'm still unclear about the things you might have said.
In pieces, they stagger embedded.
Rush me to the emergency room.
Flat line equals frantic endeavor,
But I guess this will have to do now.
Patrick, short flip and outside.
We're bringing it home!
(I'm running you down...) Ooh yeah, well nothing seems right from up here.
(Inside out...) I'm still unclear about the things you might have said.
(Down...) Ooh yeah, well nothing seems right from up here.
(Inside out...) I'm still unclear about the things you might have said.
About the things you might have said.
Hold on to the things you favor most.
Shift right and let it run down.
If my peace could find a way up...
Let go of the youthful honesty.
Let go of the youthful honesty.
Let go of the youthful honesty.
(I'm running you down...) Ooh yeah, well nothing looks right from up here.
(Inside out...) I'm still unclear about the things you might have said.
(Down...) Ooh yeah, well nothing looks right from up here.
(Inside out...) I'm still unclear about the things you might have said.
(I'm running you down...) Ooh yeah, well nothing looks right from up here.
I'm still unclear...
08 Junesong Provision (05:22)
good morning sunshine awake when the sun hits the sky
look up the sounds that surround the day you died
she waits for me outside near a hole in the ground
and thats one way thinking you might get the upper hand
dear newo ikkin how's apollo been treating you?
has he been a good boy since the day i left?
give him my love and a sweet kiss for his head
cause i won't be coming home, when you get this i'll be dead
narris and larry, gloria to nowhere
sir, i think you'd better take my hand and pray we make this one out alive
captain! we've lost all systems control then son i'll see you in my sleep
is it all you've shared with them that makes us paranoid?
is it the dream that one day you might be something you're not?
is it all you've shared with them that makes us paranoid?
is it the dreams that make us real?
is it the days that make us real?
we'll miss you and wait for you when you come
wrong way, right way bad luck what god has been giving me
(I don't believe retirement is included in the contract.
What's in the contract is not acceptable.
So brush up this contract before I tell the supervisor.
The supervisor may be at fault again.)
we'll miss you and wait for you when you come
wrong way, right way bad luck you've got to be kidding me
i've spent so long sitting down here,
paper cut my heart in half and discard the evidence
when it's yours come send me the last half
dowsed in kerosene in a torched, blazed blood bath
when boys set fire god knows you've lost at a cost that has no price
when you've purchased guilt
stand at attention and make sure you know the lines and yourself
yet you'd say i'll be home alone again waiting
wait for me, alright?, i'm still a boy down there when you want to promise me that
09 Neverender (05:23)
When you've gone about things all wrong,
Bury them here, with a lifetime you would never regret
In savoring sleep, what do you mean I toss and turn everywhere?
I'll miss you when you're gone
With pretending that you weren't the world to me
With that you'd call me a liar and in making mistakes
You'll rest incomplete...
In graver mistakes (I'll be home)
Dear mom and dad, I'll write you in this letter that states (I'll be moving on)
When the new day's begun, (new day's begun)
Forget your son when he's out on his own
The hand reads seven-thirty
And your night begins to sink in the short but faster fall
Anxious but calm retort to a mirror that frames your face
Baring the finest swell
And the day begins to break,
Like the tears that run across your cheek
Stand straight and imagine you then
In things and the way they could have been
When the thoughts they race across your chin
Here in the neverend
In graver mistakes (I'll be home)
Dear mom and dad, I'll write you in this letter that states (I'll be moving on)
When the new day's begun, (new day's begun)
Forget your son when he's out on his own
Point your gun in another direction
Now that you've cried yourself to sleep
Point your gun in another direction
Now that you've cried yourself to sleep
Here and there
After the fire
(Before you walk home)
When he's found figuring, will he be home again?
(Signal loss and stereo)
With wide open windows will she be waiting for
(The sounds surround the overpass)
With severed arm placement when the day's dark, old and dead
(A dead man against you)
We'll write her a letter with long time passing by
In graver mistakes (I'll be home)
Dear mom and dad, I'll write you in this letter that states (I'll be moving on)
When the new day's begun, (new day's begun)
Forget your son when he's out on his own
Point your gun in another direction
Now that you've cried yourself to sleep
Point your gun in another direction
Now that you've cried yourself to sleep
Here and there
After the fire
After the fire
(Send my love, and I'll be moving on...)
And I'll be bigger...
And I'll be bigger...
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