Most of my friends also listen to this guys, but whenever I try to introduce someone to the band, the most common complaint I get is that many of their lyrics are violent and cryptic for no reason. While they do tend to get a bit dark, it does have a very focused purpose, which stretches over the five albums and the novels, so I decided to make a list of the 10 darkest, most cryptic songs in the discography. That way I could explain to others why Claudio writes the way he does, and how the music is a reflection, if not a necessary tool, of the story as a whole.
This list was much harder to compile that I originally anticipated. I'm a huge Co&CA fan, so narrowing this list down to just 10 songs was quite a gut-wrenching task. In fact, I couldn't do it. I just couldn't cut the last five songs, so now the list has grown to 15. /fail. You'll see why though, so without further adieu, number 15.
15. The Willing Well III: Apollo II: The Telling Truth (Goodbye Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV: Vol. I: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness)- Long-winded titled aside, this song is pretty intense. So much is going on during this song int he Amory Wars comic: Claudio, Ambellina and the gang fall into Wilhelm Ryan and Mayo Dentinwolf's trap on the House Atlantic; Jesse begins his final fight will Mayo; Ambellina and Claudio manage to defeat one of Ryan's Onstantine Priests; The Writing Writer crosses the frame from our world into Heaven's Fence using the Willing Well and immediately attacks Ambellina, acting upon the influence set in motion by Ten Speed to kill the one he loves. It's all simply amazing! (If you're already lost at this point, read up on the story here.)
After realizing his helplessness in the face of the Writer, Claudio submits to his new master as he gives him this command: "In my presence you will make/ Sure the fiction meets its fate/ That death will grace your face my dear character/ Through these lessons you have learned/ All the worlds from here must burn/ For as God demands that the end we miss" As the Crowing, Claudio is destined to bring Heaven's fence and Wilhelm's tyrannical reign to and end, and now, by his God's commands, that time is here. This is one of the most depressing scenes from this album, as we Claudio lose this one he loves again, and once again he is helpless to stop it. Poor kid.
14. Welcome Home (GA,IBSIV: V.1: FFTtEoM)- "You could have been all I wanted/ But you weren't honest/ Now get in the ground . . ." The Writer's longing for his former lover Miss Erica Court (She'll be popping up a lot) starts to transform from simple sorrow to outright rage. Ten Speed is still prodding him, pushing him to the brink of madness, until finally he see no other options other that the destruction of all things. In this scene, however, the Writer sees himself clad in black, standing over a large whole in the ground with Erica bound before him, pleading for mercy. She says that she loves him, but he can't believe any of her words. Even in the very end, he still loves her, but knows in his heart that she must die for her sins (which that whole thing might not be exactly as it seems . . .) saying "I’d do anything for you/ One last kiss for you/ One more wish to you/ Please make up your mind girl…/ Before I hope you die"
His tormented state sets the tone for the rest of the album and the story from this point on, as Claudio and the Writer come closer and closer to their final goal: the destruction of the Fence.
Coheed and Cambria - Welcome Home (Official Music Video). Watch more top selected videos about: Coheed and Cambria
13. Time Consumer (Second Stage Turbine Blade)- The was the first so most Coheed and Cambria fans ever heard, and honestly it's one of my favorites. It paints the backdrop for one of the most disturbing and powerful moments of this album. We enter the Kilgannon residence, where Coheed, plagued by horrifying dreams (which are actually memories of a life once lived), is convince by Mayo that he must kill his children in order the protect the universe from the Sinstar Virus, a mutation of his on Monstar virus. If it allowed to coming to term, Sinstar would wipe out the entire Fence, darkening every star.
We watch a a father is torn between saving the countless populous of the Fence and protecting those who he holds most dear. Unfortunately he chooses the former, suppressing his emotions to the brink, ("Pain is only a pulse /If you just stop feeling it") as he plans to do the unthinkable.
12. The Velorium Camper I: Faint of Heart (In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3)- What would a countdown like this be without an appearance of the most vile, fucked up character from the whole series: Al the Killer. A sadistic shadow of Han Solo, Al helps Claudio and Ambellina escape from Shylos Ten. During their trip, we see just how messed up this dude really is. He has a odd, sexual relationship with his prized sniper rifle, the subject of this song, and obsesses over killing white girls in his free time. This song, as a mention, lays out his psychopathic obsession with his rifle, caressing it, making plans of mass murder
11. Here We Are Juggernaut (Year of the Black Rainbow)- The first entry from the newest album, Here We Are Juggernaut chronicles the opening scene of the YotBR novel, as Coheed and Cambria descend into the bowels of Howling Earth and confront Mayo. After a very close battle, the Beast and Knowledge manage to destroy the mining facility, though it comes at a heavy price. As they escape, Mayo screams, "You fools! You have attracted the attention of the Supreme Tri-Mage, Wilhelm Ryan! Consider this battle lost." This marks the beginning of the end for our young lovers, and acts a bitter foreshadowing of the dark deeds yet tom come.
10. This Shattered Symphony (YotBR)- Everything is falling apart at this point. Leonard is falling apart. Pearl, betrayed and alone, contemplates murder. Ryan and Mayo are finally starting to seize control of the the Fence. We enter as the world around these characters starts to turn black, and there is no turning back now. Read the novel for an more in-depth look into this moment, as it hold much more significance that I let on.
9. The Suffering (GA,IBSIV: V.1: FFTtEoM)- So how do you top that? How about a a tale of (alleged) sexual betrayal, suicide AND murder. While the lyrics here aren't as pointed, the story behind them is quite dark. The Writing Writer, at this point, as accepted the quest given to him by Ten Speed (I know I've mentioned this . . . thing a couple of times, maybe I should provide some background. Ten Speed is a talking demonic bicycle, produced by the delusions of the Writer, that convinces him to kill Ambellina/Erica 'cause she's a bitch.) to kill Ambellina, who the Writer sees as Erica.
The Writer contemplates everything Erica did, from banging some mysterious strange to never telling him the truth. He was on the brink of proposing to her, and then she had the nerve to run out on him. He's a God for Christ's sake! You can feel the torment in the music here better than in many other songs from this album, especially in live performances.
8. Neverender (SSTB)- Imagine you come home, fretting that you stayed out a little past curfew with your significant other, and upon entering the kitchen door, you find you entire family brutally murdered. Your older sister, bruised and bloodied on the linoleum floor screams at you, "RUN! YOU'LL MAKE IT IF YOU BELIEVE!!!" Just then a cloaked terror appears behind you, red eyes set to kill. At you flew from the front door, you hear the final screams of you sis roaring down the hill. Your only escape is to stow away on a trash ship, set out to some unknown horrible planet, as you decide to leave everything you've know and loved behind forever.
You're now in the shoes of Claudio Kilgannon, as he sets out on a journey to fulfill his yet unknown destiny. In this song, young Claudio, vowing revenge of those who killed his family, writes a final goodbye letter to his parents, praying and hoping that they are alright. "In graver mistakes/ Dear mom and dad/ I write you in the letter that states (scratched through) . . . When the new days begun/ Forget your son/ When he’s out on his own" He even contemplates suicide ("Point your gun in another direction/ Now that you’ve cried yourself to sleep") before calling it off. They actually had to put a disclaimer in the album cover about how this is a work of fantasy, and kids should try that at home.
7. The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut (GA,IBSIV: V.1: FFTtEoM)- And we are back to were we started, the Willing Well. This scene actually takes place before The Telling Truth, as we watch as the Writer is snatched up in a dream and is lead to none other than Miss Erica Court. Before we get to far into this song, a word about the Willing Well: this is the most bad-ass thing ever. It's a full-length mirror/portal to another dimension Like I said, bad-ass!
Anyway, about the Final Cut. Erica brings him to the block, readied to lop off his head, and utters these fateful words that change the Writer forever: "This is no beginning/ This is the final cut." This song also features one of the most violent lines in the discography. Taunting the love of her life, Erica snickers, "Here wait, so I guess that you knew/ That you’re… a selfish little whore/ I’m the selfish little whore/ If I had my way I’d crush your face in the door." Ah, young love.
6. Mother Superior (GA,IBSIV: Vol. 2: No World For Tomorrow)- The first track on the list from the end chapter of the Co&Ca saga, this song is considered one of the most melodic and beautiful songs in the entire discography. However on further inspection, it quite dark, revealing Claudio's reservations and fears right as he about to complete his role as the Crowing. The comic has yet to be released, but many fans have made some great predictions of how the story goes down at this moment.
Claudio, though he's accepted his power as the Crowing, still is not ready to give his life for a universe that has turned it back on him. Everything and everyone he's ever loved is dead or gone, his God is forcing his hand (and killed his most recent love to push him forward), and all of the deeds that have led up to this moment have been revealed to our young "hero." What should he do? Should he sacrifice himself ("Little baby, kicking, you scream and whine/ Victims pay the price eventually/ The cost, lets see… your life") or walk away? Will there be a world for tomorrow?
5. Blood Red Summer (IKSoSE:3)- We've cracked the to five, and looky what we have first! "In a blood red summer/ I'll give you." Claudio, now teamed up with Jesse the Inferno and Ambellina, has just been told of the fate of his parents at the hand of Wilhelm Ryan. Shocked and sickened by this new information, he begs and screams what did he do to deserve this. The music video is amazing too, and it has zombies!
4. Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow) (IKSoSE:3)- In one of the most disturbing scenes from the entire saga, Sizor (one of Jesse's "children"), after giving himself up to Ryan and Mayo in exchange for Chase's life (all in a ploy to gain favor with "father"), is taken to Shylos Ten to be tortured for information on the rebellion. They drill holes in his hands, blind him, decapitate him, yet he still won't give. Finally, they toss his body on the streets where Claudio and Ambellina stumble upon him. The song gets really dark towards the end, requiring a disclaimer in the album cover about how this is a work of fantasy, and kids should try that at home. ("Dear my friends/ In the time we spent forever after beyond this when will our nightmare ever end?/ Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops . . .")
But IRO-Bots will never die . . .
3. Everything Evil (SSTB)- "Wait . . . for/ Everything evil in you/ Comes out." And it truly does in this scene. Coheed performs his dark deeds, beating Josephine to death with a hammer right in front of her fiance ("blood hungry cannibalistic unfit family ties/ In a series of knocks to the young girl’s head side"), killing the twins and, to top everything off, Claudio returns at the last minute to view the entire gruesome scene. Oh and did a mention that right before this, Josephine is brutally raped by a gang of psychopaths? No? Well, we'll get to that soon . . .
But first, number 2!
2. Once Upon Your Dead Body (GA,IBSIV: V.1: FFTtEoM)- Great title right? "If hello could only drop its 'o.'" Ten Speed continues his campaign to drive the Writer to murder. You can hear as Claudio (the singer, [god this is gonna get weird]) shifts between Ten Speed and Claudio's persecive on the situation ("Do you remember why you did it?/ Do you rememeber why she left?") until he final comes to the conclusion Ten Speed had always hoped for.
"I hope you dies right now when you drink my chemical/ and If you cry out load it would only make me feel too good."
That brings us to number one on my list. Are you ready? Here it is!
1. Devil in Jersey City (SSTB)- Jersey sucks, no matter what universe you're in. Josephine and Patrick, very much in love, decide to take a short cut though the secluded city of Jersey. Bad call Pat. They are assaulted by the Jersey City Devils, a local gang of degenerates. Patrick is beaten to shit and watches, helpless as Josephine is raped in front of his eyes ("Don't let them scare you"). "Scream loud scream sayonara oh oh oh/ Sweet josephine will you follow me home?" What a way to propose! And that is why it's the darkest moment on my countdown.
Not satisfied? Pissed that your favorite song didn't make the list? Wanna send me words of praise (psssh, don't expect any of that)? Leave a comment or email me @ havenwood56@gmail.com, and I'll get back with you.
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