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r/TheFence

▲ 51 r/TheFence

Monday I thought I was done with Coheed, Tuesday I’m back among the fence.

Monday night I saw C&C with Shinedown in Edmonton. It was solidly okay.

I went for Coheed mostly. The arena was large and we were near the back. When it was over I felt nothing about it. I thought maybe my Coheed fandom was done.

Tuesday I saw them as a headliner in a smaller venue (Calgary). The vibe was so different. The crowd was in to it, and Coheed put on an amazing show with way more songs. Just had an amazing time. Turned out to be one of my favourite concerts of all time.

It’s amazing how two concerts on back to back nights can be so different.

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u/0e78c345e77cbf05ef7 — 1 day ago
▲ 259 r/TheFence

The Crowing saved my life

I was 12 when "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" came out. A friend's brother had given me a ripped copy of SSTB a year prior, and Delirium Trigger had hooked me. I dove into the stories of Coheed & Cambria because my own life was too hard for me to comprehend at the time - my mom (when she was home) took her rage out on me and my life revolved around protecting my sister from the brunt of it.

My little sister was in the throes of an undiagnosed autoimmune illness that took my family to endless specialists across the US, often having to fly out at the drop of the hat - it'd been that way for years at that point, so I was well familiar with stepping off the bus to an empty home. I rarely had any notice, but the impacts of neglect are something akin to light from a star - by the time it reaches you, it's already a million years in the past.

From the outside, I lived a privileged life. Private school education, big house a mile from its nearest neighbor, upper middle class upbringing to the Nth degree. But my mom was struggling (to put it kindly) with the weight of being the primary caretaker for a very sick child with no answers + unmedicated bipolar disorder, and my dad was always somewhere else in the open ended drawers of "business".
8/10 times that the school bell rang, I'd step outside and wait for hours until the school asked where I needed to go- and like clockwork, my parents would call, apologetic that they'd forgotten to make arrangements, and some late bus or kind teacher would drive me the 40 minutes home, dropping me off in front of a big house with the lights off in the middle of the woods.

I never told anyone that I didn't have a key - it had slipped my parents' mind in all the chaos and I learned how to open the dining room window with a crowbar, and some part of me was aware that disclosing too much would create something bigger than I could handle. I'd hop out of the car with a game face on, wait til they receded down the driveway, and dip around back to try the window.

The house was old - 1840's- and the wood frame gave in easily anytime I asked. I'd crawl through the dog door in the garage, pull a crowbar from my dad's workbench he never touched, and crawl back out and toward my favorite window.

Once inside, I'd peel off my school uniform, cut on all the lights, and head to the barn. I'd saved up chore money for years to buy a horse from a neighbor, at a ripe $1,200 (a fortune to a 12 year old! My life's savings!), and I'd named him Beau- short for "Ambellina", because something about The Crowing had lodged itself in me from first listen.
I think our bodies hear the songs we need to hear long before our brain can parse out their significance, and some part of me knew this - gender norms be damned, this horse was my protector.

But when I got dropped off at home and no one was there, it was like... the rest of my life just stopped for a minute. I had all this room to run, and I did.
I'd head out to the barn, tack up Beau, and run at full speed through pine lined pastures down to the old river road, gutted on the sides by centuries of rain. We'd do a lap in the fields close to home and then just... take the fuck off. And the whole time: I listened to The Crowing on repeat, coaxing Beau to shift gait to tempo.

To say I sunk into these stories would be putting it lightly. Coheed & Cambria gave me a way out - a path, and a language around feelings I didn't know how to name or explain just yet.
I wanted to save my little sister somehow, but couldn't- and watched her breathe through ventilators for longer than any child should. When I wasn't watching her with worry, I was running from my mother and her hands. When I let myself ride long enough to clear a path for my heart to ring out, I felt a fresh, hot sort of anger well up in me about it all, and some resentment at the responsibility I was born into as the oldest sister in this broken family.

Beau and I would run jump circuits in the front field for hours to this song, with me singing along aloud the whole fucking time. I choreographed ribbon winning circuits to this song, not kidding. Predominately dressage, but I kept the pacing in my head with every cross country hedge we cleared, muddied but satisfied by the end. I competed with adults in the show circuit as a preteen, was trained by Olympic equestrians, but it always felt different, because it was. I ran them, these circuits, with this horse in the same way I ran them down river roads when I needed it in a way some folks just haven't ever needed anything. This horse was my coconspirator, my only friend who really knew what my life was like at home.
Beau and this record saved my life in ways I can't really even begin to calculate.

Years later, at 15, Beau got stung by a bee while we were riding and rightfully bucked me off, but dragged me through that front field, first- with one leg up, stuck in a stirrup, my tailbone hit ridge after ridge.

When he finally paused, I was one leg up and was fully paralyzed from the neck down. Beau stopped, turned, and stood over me until my parents noticed from a window and called the EMTs.
I will never know how long I laid there, because time gets hazy when you apply too much meaning to it (IMO), but when Beau saw me, he turned and stood directly on top of me, pressing his muzzle to the top of my head the entire time.

I regained feeling in my fingers and toes about an hour after the EMTs arrived, gently feeling some sort of life work its way back into me, limb by limb. Beau stood over me the whole time - immovable. I don't know how to explain it other than exactly that- he stood over me and waited, face pressed to my forehead, and all I thought about were the lyrics of this fucking song: "Dear Ambellina, the Prise wishes you to watch over me."

I know it's just a song, just a story. But I think the stories & consequent life we write into being have some sort of validity, some sort of truth, in a way that we might not yet understand. For me, this entire album gave me a world to jump into when I felt the walls close in on mine. I stood over my little sister, my heart to hers, to protect her the best I could when no one was protecting me. The indignant rage I felt at the circumstances, as a child, radiated off of me as some kind of buffer for her. I kept it up for as long as I could until I lost her in 2014.

I finally got to see my first Coheed show at 35 - and, if you can believe it, my long time friends opened for them.
I thought of Beau & my sister the whole time, and how glad I was to be alive to hear it all, how wonderful it was to realize that I'd made it out of those chapters of my life, alive and still listening, how grateful I was that someone had protected my heart long enough to let it find its way here full circle.

The people in this sub remind me that folks are still listening in a world that feels largely immune to nuance, at times, impervious to the magic that is remaining alive against all odds. I love you all for listening to this band the way I have for so many years, and for so kindly embracing the stories that come with it. Thanks for reading- attached is that same 12 year old posing for a church directory photo, and my little sister admiring a dragonfly she'd momentarily caught. You were my favorite 💛

Keep listening. Keep loving. Keep feeling. We are one upon the fence. 👐

u/dominodomino321 — 1 day ago
▲ 133 r/TheFence

outfit for the calgary, ab concert tonight!!!!

see yall inside 🙏🏻 line long as hell

u/meanieshrek — 1 day ago
▲ 25 r/TheFence

Anyone else have really strong associations of Coheed albums with particular video games?

I very strongly associate In Keeping Secrets and Good Apollo vol. 1 with days spent playing Halo and Halo 2 respectively. I'd blast each of them while playing whether it was multiplayer or campaign and it felt truly epic to my teenage self. The Crowing always takes me back to Silent Cartographer and that epic run at the end of Willing Well II reminds me of the end section of Halo 2 aboard the Scarab.

On a more modern tip, I listened to Vaxis III a lot while getting 100% completion in Doom the Dark Ages. I can't help but think of fighting a hell knight inside the Cthulhu monster when I hear Father of Make Believe.

I'd love to hear anyone else's game + album pairings!

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u/christpuncher_69 — 2 days ago
▲ 0 r/TheFence

I came to Edmonton from Victoria to see Coheed and Cambria but I stayed for From Ashes to New and Shinedown as they were all amazing plus From Ashes to New liked my instagram story so I have huge respect for them

u/NewPatron-St — 3 days ago
▲ 92 r/TheFence+1 crossposts

After Years Of Avoidance, I Have Listened To Everything Post NWFT, And Digested It.

I grew up in love with Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness, and their first four albums. Outside of that, I had kind of dismissed the fact they kept making music. I had heard a few song in concert from their newer material, and ***even still, I put it off***.

But, the past few weeks I have listened to almost nothing but Coheed and Cambria, giving all opportunity to love their new music. So here are my thoughts on their discography!

The Second Stage Turbine Blade:

This album is almost perfect. Such catchy riffs and lyrics I want to shout from mountain tops! Its young, its raw, its not mixed perfectly, and the fidelity is low in parts- but ***fuck*** this album is something special. Claudio Sanchez's voice is so passionate, and the beat makes me want to match that vibe. Devil in Jersey City, Everything Evil, Hearshot Kid Disaster, Junesong Provision- the whole album- its just great.

Junesong Provsion [Acoustic Demo] is my favorite song from their whole discography, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I love it. This is a 9.5/10 album for me.

In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3

This album immediately understands the one thing The Second Stage Turbine Blade lacked- soundscape. It has a cohesion and identity to it that the previous record didnt have in quite the same way. It has some self-referencel riffs, the mixing and fidelity TSSTB missed, and it give the band a real identity of their own in Progressive rock. In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3, The Crowing, The Camper Velourium Ii: Backend of Forever, 21:13. There are some great songs here. A 8.5/10 for me, and one of their best works.

Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness:

Bias alert. This is in my top albums of all time list. To keep myself short, this album is perfect. It takes sonic cohesion, massive production, the story telling of the previous record, and this album has a certain darkness, and heaviness to it that I just adore. I want to kiss every song on this record, and give it a gold star. 10/10

Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow:

Epic. Epic. Awesome. Epic. Thats what this album wants, and that what this album is. Everything from the previous works is here. Big production, cohesion, story, catchieness, screamability. This is ***The*** Coheed and Cambria album, on my opinion. Fitting for the end of The Amory Wars series. And this album has Mother Superior on it. You don't get more Coheed and Cabria than this album. 9.5/10

Year of the Black Rainbow:

First new album for me, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I like this album, I do, but this album doesn't have Cohesion like the previous records do- it feels more like a collection of songs rather than ***a progressive rock album,*** if that makes sense. Some great things here and some new sounds from them I didn't expect. But there are some things that fall flat for me. This album gets a strong 7/10 for me. Something I'll go back to, but nothing I'm screaming from mountains.

The Afterman: Ascension

Woo! Back to feeling like a progressive rock album! God stuff on this one. Great opener, and this is the best they have sounded in their discography (listening in FLAC with a Fiio M15, and Meze Classics). Production is big, and Claudio Sanchez sounds so soulful on this record. Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute is such a great way to open this series. The Afterman is popy, and as a person who doesn't typically like popy music, I enjoy it here. Hollywood is fun, and Vic the Butcher, too. This album doesn't have anything, to me, as catchy as The Amory Wars records, bur I enjoy what is happening here. 8.5/10

The Afterman: Descension

This album brings some heavy too it. By now you know I like this. This is the better of the two Afterman albums for me. Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant brings some acoustic guitar to it, and I'm such a slut for acoustic Coheed and Cambria, and the screaming! Oh! Awesome.... oh, huh? What's that? The baseline rips? ***IS THAT FUCKING SKA MUSIC?? IN MY COHEED AND CAMBRIA!?*** Number City is such a wild left turn, but an experiment I very thoroughly enojy. Fuck it, give me more Ska Coheed if you have it.

Dark Side of Me. Let me say it again. Dark Side of Me. This is one of the best songs in this entire discography. I don't want to hear your opinion unless you are agreeing. This albun gets a 9.5/10 for me, and gave me so much hope for their future records.

The Color Before The Sun:

:)

This album is another Year of the Black Rainbow situation. A collection of music, not a prog rock album. And it's very popy. There are things here I like. Ghost is nice, Atlas, The Audience, Peace to the Mountain- but this is not my Coheed and Cambria album. An okay 6.5/10 for me.

Vaxis Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures:

Returning to the prog rock album format, this is the largest soundscape yet. I feel the space war going on, and I like it. Great vocals, as always, good guitar work- everyone sounds good here. But they carry that more popy sound with them. There are good songs, but there aren't any moments that make me say "Hell Yeah". If that makes sense. A lot of repetitive lyrics, but a fun listen when you're in the mood for its sound. 7.5/10 for me.

Vaxis Axt II: A Window of The Waking Mind:

It carries everything from the previous album, but this feels like a pop record. An attempt at the Main Stream I want my Coheed and Cambria to stay away from. Fun sounds here and there, good beats- I gave this album many listens. I just........ I don't like it. I'm sorry for the fans. I can understand what there is to love, but this isn't my music. This album is a 5.5/10 for me. The lowest point of this journey and it made me so anxious for the next record.

Edit: I've been a bit harsh on this album, as you all know. I'm changing the rating to 7/10, which is not just to appease. There is good stuff on this album, just for my personal music taste, this is the weakest album for me. As for the album Ranking, I'm not changing that. This is still the album I'll come back to the least, but I do appreciate it! I love this band, and even if this record won't be in my regular rotation, I do still recognize and value it, as I do with them all. 💚

Vaxis Act III: The Father of Make Believe:

Nervous to step into this one, but willing- I was surprised. It carries the rest of Vaxis, and this is by far my favorite of the three! Search for Tomorrow is catchy, Play the Poet is my favorite out of the whole trilogy, and my favorite song from all of modern Coheed and Cambria. Corner My Confidence is nice, and I do find myself like the more pop style music on this album. Maybe its just a tightened version of the previous records, but I enjoy what's happening here. BUT, this doesn't hold a torch to The Amory Wars Records. An 8/10 is what this gets from me.

If I had to rank them, though I don't much like to do it, here is what I would say:

  1. Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume One: Fear Through The Eyes of Madness

  2. The Second Stage Turbine Blade

  3. Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow

  4. In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3

  5. The Afterman: Descension

  6. The Afterman: Ascension

  7. Year of the Black Rainbow

  8. Vaxis Act III: The Fater of Makebelieve

  9. Color Before The Sun

  10. Vaxis Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures

  11. Vaxis Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind

I deeply love this band. It was a childhood favorite, and one of the most important bands to my late twin brother. But for me, I will be mostly sticking with The Amory Wars series of albums. Thanks to any nerd who actually reads this! I like knowing my thoughts have been heard. 💚

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u/Moomintroll02 — 4 days ago
▲ 28 r/TheFence

Any Mr. Robot fans? Just realizing after a year how well the FOMB title track lyrics and show premise align.

u/BrotakuzaTube — 3 days ago
▲ 203 r/TheFence+1 crossposts

Coheed & Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3. Fantastic album

u/bison2000 — 4 days ago
▲ 20 r/TheFence

Question

So Just for fun. You meet someone thats never heard of Coheed. You have 4 songs to get them hooked. What are you picking? For me i dont want to overwhelm them so even though some of thier long songs are some of their best id probably avoid a 7-8 min banger right out the gate. Id aslo wanna give them a mix and split up the albums. So my 4 would be.

Blood Red Summer

Welcome home

Feathers

The Pavilion

i love all these and they arent even my favorites. but i feel like these are good songs to bring to a Coheed novice and and have them wanting more when its over.

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u/Otherwise-Produce-33 — 4 days ago
▲ 31 r/TheFence

How do I get tickets for this book signing in Philly?

Sorry for the insta screenshot. I'd like to go to the Philly event but the ticket link doesn't work. I searched the Barnes and Noble site for the book and I'm not seeing it either. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

u/goose_egg — 6 days ago
▲ 7 r/TheFence+1 crossposts

Afterman festival ticket available.

Post approved by: iamactuallyalion (mod) via dms.

I am unable to go to the October 3rd and 4th after Man festival in Santa Anna, California. I have one ticket available that is a 2-day pass.

They will be doing the Afterman neverender which is an amazing opportunity to see live.

Ticketmaster is not allowing me to sell the ticket because it's still a couple months out.

If you are interested I paid $196.00 I'm willing to go down to $150 or best offer.

It's a pretty good lineup. You also will be able to see prize fighter live.

I have Zelle and Venmo and afterwards I can transfer the ticket via email through Ticketmaster.

I would love for someone to be able to experience the show since I'm not able to go.

Thanks in advance.

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u/Status_Remote_6898 — 4 days ago
▲ 258 r/TheFence

Billings, MT 8/12/26

Short but great set, got to see delirium live!

u/Fresh_Wax — 7 days ago
▲ 0 r/TheFence

How do I get into C&C?

I’ve tried listening to the two albums for the their festival but I am missing what to enjoy. I hear it like it’s a classic metal band but because of the scene I feel like I’m wrong. Can you guys tell me what you line about the music?

Some background of my tastes, I’m going for circa survive and hail the sun.

Edit: thank you guys for your input. I wasn’t listening to it as a progressive band so my expectations were set incorrectly. I can actually start listening and enjoying it properly.

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u/wolfroke — 7 days ago
▲ 110 r/TheFence

Y’all heard this?

Popped up when I was listening to a random playlist, not only is it my boy Claude but it’s also got Tim In there too, easily one of my favourite Claudio collabs, gives me Afterman era vibes 😁 I also might be a little late to this, sorry if someone’s already gushed about this.

u/Rhab89 — 7 days ago