Surprisingly, Coheed and Cambria were not influenced by Rush when they wrote this.
With its high sci-fi concepts and no-nonsense, expansive blend of progressively inclined rock, their second, 2003 album (chronologically the third part of Claudio Sanchez’s Amory Wars story) certainly follows in the spiritual if not sonic footsteps of that Canadian trio. They’d discover Rush later, but In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 remains an interesting document of the band’s formative years, when they were leaner, meaner and perhaps less developed. Singles Blood Red Summer and A Favor House Atlantic bear the hallmarks of their post-hardcore and punk contemporaries, albeit seen through pop-tinted spectacles. There are other catchy hooks aplenty too, on uptempo rocker Three Evils and the nine-minute single/title track, with its choral crescendo. Coheed would deviate from this path later, but it shows that the crossover appeal that lured in both post-hardcore kids and veteran proggers was established early on.
