13 Things Only Coheed & Cambria Fans Will Understand

There's a whole lotta creativity hiding under all that hair.

There isn't a single band in the history of music that's quite like Coheed & Cambria. And that's no overstatement. Crafting a relatively odd blend of riff-heavy alternative metal and spacey prog-rock, Coheed excels in an arena that few other bands would ever try to step foot into. They can do something no one else can, and that makes them an easy band to respect. Of course, it doesn't always make them the easiest band for new fans to latch onto. Trying to explain the essence of this band is like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded and standing on one leg. Sure, it's possible, but it's not exactly the easiest task in the world. This is a band where it's really best to tell potential fans, "Just go listen to an album. You'll understand in time." But for those of us who've listened to the band since Second Stage Turbine Blade, it's almost impossible to fall out of love with this band. Unless they decide to do a collaboration with Taylor Swift, Coheed is a band will probably never disappoint. And, honestly, now that I think of it, they'd probably find a way to make that T-Swift partnership cool as hell...

13. They Know How To Hook You Into An Album

Thinking about any album Coheed & Cambria has released thus far, all of them have more than a few things in common. But the most important concurrence is how effectively they're able to kick things off. Rather than go for the towering, bombastic anthem right out of the gate, Claudio and Co. usually choose the opposite: luring you in with a soft, orchestral introduction. If all you ever heard of this band was the opening tracks to their albums, you'd never expect that a song like "Devil In Jersey City" or "No World Tomorrow" was a Coheed song. Each one is different, of course, but most some combination of beautiful, haunting melodies that go heavy on the piano or strings. (Two notable exceptions are from their most recent albums, The Afterman: Descension and The Color Before the Sun, which both forgo this tradition.) These intros just prove that if Coheed ever decides to stop recording albums (God forbid!) they would surely have a lucrative career in the film score business.
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Jacob is a part-time contributor for WhatCulture, specializing in music, movies, and really, really dumb humor.