Maybe it’s a complete coincidence, but the cynic in me says that this recent bout of re-issues and the impending celebration of Christmas have been joined in a joyous unison combined to ensure the maximum $$. After all, I’m not aware that this CD – the band’s first for Equal Vision – is out of print or particularly hard to get hold of. Indeed, a quick check of Interpunk and Amazon show that the original is still available – leading me to question what the actual point of this is?
Sure, Coheed’s stock has raised considerably since this record was originally released in 2002. They’ve now released three critically acclaimed records and signed to a major, so on face value it’s pretty obvious why EVR are keen to re-package this, bung some extra tracks on the end and try and rake in a few extra pennies. Pretty cynical, yes, but it will take a lot to convince me that this record has been re-released for any other reason.
With that rant over, ‘The Second Stage Turbine Blade‘ is an excellent album that is easily worthy of a space in your CD collection. Bearing in mind it is three years old, it sounds like Coheed and pretty much no-one else. The fact that Claudio and co have inspired a hundred soundalikes, yet not one has surpassed their achievements, says it all. ‘Devil In Jersey City‘, ‘Time Consumer’ and ‘Delirium Trigger’ are all fantastic songs that serve to show just how talented the band can be.
For me this is their best album – while technically the band have got better as the story of the two characters has evolved – the record that started things off. If you don’t own this album you really should, but if you do already have it there’s absolutely no point in buying it again. The score is for this re-issue, not the record itself, which is far, far better. See our previous review, I think that sums it up rather nicely…
www.equalvision.com
paul