Conceptually, New York prog rockers Coheed and Cambria seem inaccessible. The entirety of their 20-year output, save a one-off detour in 2015, has taken place in a sci-fi cosmos called Heaven’s Fence. What started as a way for frontman and comic book geek Claudio Sanchez to express himself has spiralled into a mess of metanarratives with countless characters.
On Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind, the band mercifully juxtapose a sprawling concept with some of their most concise and infectious songwriting to date. The sequel to 2018’s Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures is the second part of a planned pentalogy, but it eschews the self-indulgence of its 80-minute predecessor. In its place are no-frills pop anthems such as Beautiful Losers and Shoulders, which have choruses that fly higher than a rocketship.
Despite restricting themselves to an episodic framework, the band still flaunt their talents. Blood is an electro-rock ballad, while Comatose employs intricate prog riffing. A Disappearing Act swaps rock for synthesisers to create an Ibiza club banger. Even when a closing trilogy of songs runs longer, it earns its time with the drama of orchestral backing and harmonic guitar playing. Coheed have been heavier and more forward-thinking than on Vaxis I, but they’ve never released an album with so many tracks primed to become hits. Rarely has almost an hour of sci-fi mumbo jumbo been easier on the ear.
