{"id":98419,"date":"2025-03-13T20:27:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T20:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=98419"},"modified":"2025-06-03T18:14:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T17:14:50","slug":"review-coheed-and-cambria-the-father-of-make-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-coheed-and-cambria-the-father-of-make-believe\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Coheed and Cambria – The Father of Make Believe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CoheedWhen most of your discography is made up of a layered sci-fi saga, each release can carry an extra weight of expectation. That is where Coheed and Cambria<\/strong> frontman Claudio Sanchez finds himself as the band release their 11th album.\u00a0‘The Father of Make Believe’<\/em> is the third act in\u00a0‘Vaxis’<\/em> five-part narrative. However, Sanchez considers this album a “midlife crisis”<\/em>. It sees him intertwining personal experiences into ‘Vaxis’<\/em> (and ‘The Amory<\/em> Wars’) overarching narrative.<\/p>\n

For example, the succulent power ballad, ‘Meri of Mercy’<\/em>, sees him pay tribute to his late Grandparents in the form of familiar characters; Sirius and Meri Amory. Weaving loss into his fictional narrative allows Sanchez to reunite the pair.<\/p>\n

Stylestically, early album cuts\u00a0‘Goodbye, Sunshine’<\/em> and\u00a0‘Searching For Tomorrow’<\/em> are executed with a sense of familiarity. The former is a bombastic blast of melodic rock with pop-punk flourishes. The latter sees Josh Eppard (drums), and Zach Cooper (bass) provide a rigid groove, as lead guitarist Travis Stever and Sanchez deliver a frenzied fretboard display alongside C&C<\/strong>‘s frequent anthemic rock hooks. It’s followed by the title track. It demonstrates Sanchez and company’s prog-inspired dramatic post-hardcore in full force, while lyrically allows Sanchez to acknowledge his role as ‘The Amory<\/em> Wars’ mastermind.<\/p>\n

However, there are moments where Coheed<\/strong> take chances. ‘Blind Side Sonny’<\/em> sees them at their scrappiest, thrashing through rowdy, distorted vocals and sharp guitar riffs. It gives momentum to\u00a0‘Play The Poet’<\/em>s genre-bending. From its warped nu-metal opening, blaring breakdown, and rollercoaster ending, it’s pretty satisfying to hear a frenzied Coheed<\/strong>. It’s countered by\u00a0‘Corner My Confidence,’<\/em> where Sanchez’s acoustic guitar twiddles through earnest words of adoration for his wife. It provides a heartfelt respite from the towering hook-laden rock that is scattered throughout\u00a0‘The Father of Make Believe’.<\/em><\/p>\n