Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Vol. 1

So what is it with lead singers and big hair again? Bands like Motion City Soundtrack, The Mars Volta and Coheed and Cambria’s vocalists all boast Botticelli-esque manes. Is the creativity somehow encapsulated within their outrageous locks? Coheed and Cambria makes a grand gesture on its latest, Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV, Vol. One, with a dramatic opening sequence of eerie sci-fi keyboards and a romantic string arrangement setting the pace for the album. This is the third release in a pentology of concept albums (actually fourth in the series—released out of order) that tells the rock opera story of the characters Coheed and Cambria, the brainchild of front man Claudio Sanchez. “Welcome Home” continues the saga with heartbroken lyrics: “Here laid to rest, is our love ever longed?/ With truth on the shores of compassion you seem to make premise to all of these songs…” The track “Wake Up” is a kind of modern-day Romeo and Juliet love story with the sound of gentle guitar and lines like, “ So leave yourself intact ’cause I will be coming back in a phase to cut these lips I love you.” Love the hair, too.