10 Best Progressive Rock Albums Of The 2000s
2. Coheed And Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One
The Nyack, New York outfit's exhaustive, career-long cosmic epic, concept tale reached a hot and technically perfect peak in 2005.
Their third LP finds the group dabbling in heavy metal and emo to fully recognise the heartache of the Coheed and Cambria characters' downfalls. Along the way, listeners are introduced to the Monstar Virus and a host of other plot twists.
As always, enjoying Coheed and Cambria's work requires having listened to everything that has come before from them. For fans, this immersive stab at musical franchising (including a slew of graphic novel companion pieces no less) is an exciting world to explore and experience. For more casual listeners, it can be rather alienating.
Regardless, the compositions on this album are a must-listen for prog fans everywhere. 'Welcome Home', arguably the group's best-loved single, finds them at their eccentric and headbanging best. The lyrical narrator, now suffering something of a metafictional identity crisis, takes the listener through a wild set of lavish, suspenseful guitar riffs, solos and beats. The track even made it onto Harmonix's seminal 'Rock Band' game in 2007.
The album overall maintains the epic whimsy on offer in 'Welcome Home' throughout, offering prog rockers some of the most high concept fare the noughties had to offer.