Coheed and Cambria

Coheed and Cambria built its catalog around The Amory Wars, Claudio Sanchez’s science-fiction narrative, which has also been adapted into comic books and a full-length novel. With the exception of 2015’s The Color Before the Sun, the band’s albums are concept records tied to that storyline. Their music brings progressive rock into contact with pop, heavy metal, and post-hardcore, often pairing elaborate narratives with high-register vocals, guitar-driven arrangements, and shifting song structures.

Formed in Nyack, New York, in 1995, the group first operated under the name Beautiful Loser before becoming Shabutie. Coheed and Cambria emerged from that history with Sanchez on vocals, guitars, and keyboards; Travis Stever on guitars and vocals; Michael Todd on bass; and Josh Eppard on drums. Their debut, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, arrived in 2002, followed by In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 in 2003. The latter was certified gold and included “A Favor House Atlantic.” The 2005 album Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness was also certified gold and featured “Welcome Home.”

Lineup changes followed in the late 2000s. Eppard and Todd departed in 2006, Todd later returned, and Chris Pennie joined as drummer. Taylor Hawkins played drums on 2007’s Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow because of contractual restrictions involving Pennie. Todd left the band in 2011, while Pennie also departed that year. Eppard returned on drums, and Zach Cooper became bassist in 2012.

The band expanded The Amory Wars with Year of the Black Rainbow, a 2010 prequel, and released The Afterman in two installments, Ascension and Descension, between 2012 and 2013. The Color Before the Sun marked a break from the overarching fiction and reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200. Coheed and Cambria returned to concept-album storytelling with Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures in 2018 and Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind in 2022. Their eleventh studio album, Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe, was released in 2025. Six of the band’s albums have reached the Billboard Top 10.