Album review: Coheed And Cambria – Vaxis – Act III: The Father Of Make Believe

It is possible to have too much of a good thing. In Coheed And Cambria’s recent Kerrang! Cover Story, iconic frontman Claudio Sanchez expressed concern that his band’s vast conceptual vision had come to eclipse their musical creativity. Ten albums into their career-spanning Amory Wars saga (Vaxis – Act III: The Father Of Make Believe is their 11th in total) it is easy to understand why. So dense and tangled is the extended mythos of the 78 planets of Heaven’s Fence that it can be intimidating even for ardent fans to accurately situate themselves in the sprawling narrative.

Brilliantly, the band themselves have never gotten too caught up in the threads. Even held up against spiritual predecessors like Queensrÿche and Dream Theater – or, further back, The Who, Rush and Pink Floyd – Coheed have a staggering talent for immediacy and accessibility.

Opening track Yesterday’s Lost, for instance, works deftly as the introduction to Chapter Ten, placing Claudio himself at the heart of things, but even those without context could fall in love with its soft-strummed rumination, like Bright Eyes at their dreamiest. Goodbye, Sunshine, meanwhile, is a song “about standing at the funeral procession” but also a snapshot of a great band at their emotionally maximalist best.

Immersing themselves in the sea of literature and comic books available to flesh out the story, truly hardcore fans may find a deeper connection to these 14 songs, but it’s to the album’s immense credit that they won’t find a better listening experience than newcomers hitting ‘play’ for the first time. Early highlight Searching For Tomorrow is an urgent, exuberant exercise in six-string wizardry surging for the stars. Meri Of Merci unfolds as a glorious slice of euphoric emo that would do Jimmy Eat World proud, then Play The Poet unleashes an wild prog-punk onslaught straight out of leftfield. Lead single Someone Who Can is a pop-rock nugget to prove they can do understatement, too.

And that’s still just scratching the surface. Four-part climax The Continuum is obviously the crowning achievement, but the way it segues from slamming metal to grandiose prog to ominous atmospherics to jaunty, joyful denouement So It Goes – ‘It’s all in my head / These lies / That connect you and me / And everything between us’ – exudes the kind of self-awareness that comes with true genius.

Astonishingly, there are still two more albums in the Vaxis sub-saga. But if such tall tales remain the fuel for sounds as invigorating as these, we’ll be hanging on every word…

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: My Chemical Romance, Circa Survive, Rush

Vaxis – Act III: The Father Of Make Believe is released March 14 via Virgin Music Group.