IN REVIEW: Coheed and Cambria - "Vaxis Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures"

After a brief fling with non-fiction in the form of 2015's The Color Before the Sun, Coheed and Cambria's eighth album (and first with Roadrunner) immediately and handily squashes any apprehension about their devotion to The Amory Wars. After five albums (and one side album) concerning the incredibly complicated story arc, The Color Before the Sun turns out to have been a one-off, a pause to recenter the author of these grand tales before diving headlong into another round or five.

At nearly eighty minutes, The Unheavenly Creatures (reportedly the first of five planned albums to tell the story of Vaxis) is only slightly shorter than The Afterman, their 2012/2013 double album; however, unless listeners are extremely patient, the option to split this album's two halves by six months isn't really an option. It stands to reason, then, that The Unheavenly Creatures is a slog to get through and difficult to stay invested in.

The thing is, Coheed and Cambria have come back into their grandiose storytelling mode with top notch tunes in hand; it's been my experience with the album on multiple spins that it's an incredibly gripping and greatly rewarding record, one that takes some time to be sure and yet doesn't waste it. There's surprisingly little filler, and even a slight lull around the midway mark isn't much of a chore.

It's no small feat to create a long, drawn-out record that maintains its momentum; incredibly, The Unheavenly Creatures seems to get even stronger as it builds toward the end. In particular, the album's closing trio of It Walks Among Us, Old Flames and Lucky Stars ends this act of the Vaxis opus on three stellar (and, commendably, completely different sounding) notes. To not only hold attention past the hour mark but to gift listeners' patience with arguably the album's three strongest tracks is simply a stunning achievement, especially in this day and age.

Where most bands would have been tempted to keep it simple and fizzle out at this point in their career, Coheed and Cambria instead choose the path of most resistance; committing to a new narrative, one that could take a decade or more to complete, can't be the safest option for a band already two decades deep into their career. For that matter, are fans ready to go on another long interstellar adventure? Well, after listening to this band in peak form deliver their best album to date, this one sure as hell is.

October 5, 2018 • Roadrunner
Highlights Toys • It Walks Among Us • Old Flames