Coheed and Cambria

Coheed and Cambria is a rock band from Nyack, NY, whose music is often called progressive rock or new prog. Their first seven albums (and the ninth and tenth) are linked to The Amory Wars, an intergalactic sci-fi epic by frontman Claudio Sanchez. A simplified story version is available here.

The band initially formed in 1995 as Beautiful Loser, later renamed Shabutie. After lineup changes and three EPs, Coheed and Cambria was established with Sanchez (vocals, guitar), Travis Stever (guitar, backing vocals), Michael Todd (bass, backing vocals), and Josh Eppard (drums, backing vocals).

Their debut album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, was released in March 2002 after they signed with Equal Vision Records. Their next album, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, came out in October 2003 and went gold, featuring the single "A Favor House Atlantic." Switching to Columbia Records, they released Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV (From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness) in September 2005, also going gold and featuring the hit "Welcome Home."

In November 2006, Eppard and Todd left the band due to personal and drug issues. Five months later, Todd returned and Chris Pennie, ex- The Dillinger Escape Plan drummer, joined. Good Apollo (No World For Tomorrow) was released in October 2007 with Foo Fighters' drummer Taylor Hawkins due to contractual issues with Pennie. In late 2008, missing one original member, the band held four-night concert series—Neverender—matching their four albums. Their fifth album, Year of the Black Rainbow, released in April 2010, was a prequel to their earlier albums. Todd was arrested on armed robbery charges in 2011, and Pennie left, with Eppard returning as drummer.

A year after Todd's departure, Zach Cooper, ex-AM to PM bassist, joined. From October 2012 to February 2013, they released their sixth and seventh albums as the double album The Afterman—Ascension and Descension—via Hundred Handed/Everything Evil Records. After another label change to 300 Entertainment, the eighth album, The Color Before the Sun, was their first non-conceptual album, focusing on recent events in Sanchez’s life. It hit #10 on the Billboard 200 and topped Top US Rock Albums.

In May 2018, they teased new music linked to The Amory Wars on social media. With the release of “The Dark Sentencer,” Coheed confirmed Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures and a return to concept albums, released on October 5.

After extensive tours and a break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they revisited The Amory Wars in June 2022 with Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind, the second of five in the Vaxis saga about a couple on the run.