Coheed and Cambria

Coheed And Cambria are perceived by some to be something of a guilty pleasure. It’s silly really. You get a band that actually enjoys playing music with silly fills and wanky prog moments and ridiculously massive hair, and how bloody good they are is totally forgotten.

Claudio Sanchez arrives on the stage and envelopes almost all of it with his huge curly fur ball of an excuse for a hairdo. It’s amazing that, as he reels off exquisite solo after magnanimous riff after exquisite solo, the New Yorkers’ music is almost drowned out by the screams of the 700 or so kids in front of them at this intimate pre-release show.

What is most striking about the setlist is how they pluck arguably their three best songs from their stellar three-album back catalogue in ‘Welcome Home’, ‘Ten Speed’ and ‘A Favor House Atlantic’ and still manage to play a full set without a single dip in intensity or commotion.

Former Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Chris Pennie doesn’t need to hammer his skins in the same manner as he used to; instead, he is allowed the freedom to express all the subtleties of his game – the ones that might have passed unnoticed in years gone by.

Playing a song from their new album – the rather long-windedly titled Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow – for the encore should be a brave move but it’s such a jazz-addled piece of technical magic that everyone takes to it in an instant.

There is absolutely no doubt that their new opus is going to astound those that have acquired the taste for prog rock and there is even less doubt about this band coming back very soon and razing much larger venues to the ground all over the UK.