Coheed and Cambria, THE COLOR BEFORE THE SUN (2015).

Granted, I can’t answer the perennial question so many of us ask: are they prog or not?  I really have no idea, and I’m not sure what they’d say about themselves.  Regardless, Coheed and Cambria are always artful, intense, and professional (at least in the music, if not necessarily in the lyrics).  Regardless, they produce very progressive rock, even if they don’t consider themselves apart of the prog fraternity.

The latest album—THE COLOR BEFORE THE SUN—is the band’s first full-length studio album not to fit into their larger mythology, THE AMORY WARS.  Of course, they’ve produced a number of songs not related to their larger story—such as songs about the U.S. Supreme Court (no, I’m not joking—it’s quite humorous) and about Batman (again, not joking—but this is the first album to dare not to continue their own science fiction epic.

The end result?  It’s quite good.  Definitely, the album rocks.  Imagine Smashing Pumpkins taken to 11, and you’d have Coheed and Cambria’s THE COLOR BEFORE THE SUN.  I must admit, I have a hard time judging the album, as I love their more tradition non-traditional approach to music.

Of the ten songs, “Atlas” (track six) is probably the best.

Still, strangely enough, my favorite part of the album is the title of it.  What a gorgeous title, full of promise and imagination.  Utterly Platonic and enticing.