Chlamydia is pretty catchy, but that doesn’t mean it’s filled to the brim with quality. Far from it, in fact. The same could be said of Coheed and Cambria’s fifth full length, Year of the Black Rainbow.

Hope for a rewarding listen is counterfeited in the first song, The Broken; the track does everything it should: it remains interesting throughout, is attractive, and isn’t an embarrassment. Apart from this track, World of Lines, and, to a lesser extent Made Out of Nothing, the rest of the album is hollow. While the vocals are constantly strong, the music itself is dull, and is as memorable as a trip to the rest room: not very. The closing ‘epic’, The Black Rainbow, crawls along on flat tyres, and achieves nothing.

The only saving grace for Coheed is that when they get it right, they get it very right. If this was a collection of 12 of their best songs, rather than three of them, I’d have a satisfied grin on my face. Sadly, I do not.

3.2/5