Some more food for thought on this issue...
from the Washington Post...
Coheed and Cambria
The New York art-metal band (are you still reading?) Coheed and Cambria was the reason for a sellout crowd at the 9:30 on Tuesday night. Three other bands were on the bill, including the emo trio Rainer Maria, but while the mostly high school- and college-age crowd greeted the openers with polite applause, it erupted when C&C finally took the stage.
The four-piece band -- named for two of the characters in its fantasy-based songs -- wasted no time fueling the frenzy. Fists pumped and a flurry of crowd surfing broke out as the group started with the title track to last year's album "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3."
With a pulled-back Afro that sticks out a foot on each side of his head, lead singer and guitarist Claudio Sanchez has the look of a fevered lion. "For you I'd do anything / Just to make you happy / Hear you tell me that you're proud of me," he sings, and everyone, it seems, is singing along with each intently felt word.
And so it goes the rest of the night. The band speeds through spacey metal riffs -- think Pink Floyd, but faster and louder -- and the audience responds as if under the spell of a mad shaman. Sanchez is aided by guitarist Travis Stever, bassist Michael Todd and drummer Joshua Eppard, all economical musicians who bash out a great sound with a minimum of rock pretense or showmanship.
Songs like "Blood Red Summer" and "Time Consumer," like almost all of Coheed's songs, are cathartic rock -- fierce and yet intensely melodic.
More than anything, though, the music is communal. The band's obscure, sci-fi-ish lyrics are so dense it is often impossible to know what the songs are about, but they all share a feeling of a battle being joined or a journey being shared. The crowd on this night was thrilled to go along for the ride.
-- Joe Heim
And then, from the Going Out Gurus:
Washington, D.C.: Joe, I can't believe you didn't mention Rainer Maria in your Coheed & Cambria review today. Did you see them. What did you think?
The Going Out Gurus: Well, if I had mentioned them I'm afraid I wouldn't have had anything nice to say. I thought they were a great bore.
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Rainer Maria: Joe,
I couldn't disagree with either your assessment of the C&C show or of Ranier Maria more. I thought Coheed & Cambria were a bunch of over-played, un-talented testosterone-driven popsters.
Ranier Maria I'm a fan of and have seen live at least 3 times. They have a solid sound and play well live.
Can't help but think, Joe, that it's your taste in music judging (i.e. emo is slow- get used to it) rather than assessing the bands' talent.
The Going Out Gurus: Well, I guess we just disagree. But I like lots of slow quiet music and there's lots of hard, loud music that I can't stand. But Rainer Maria was a drag. They were just slow in an uninteresting, uninspired sort of way.
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OK, forum-ers, who posted these questions to the GOG's? T'wasn't me, I assure you...
