A phone rings once. Footsteps are heard in the background, but they are merely a whisper. At the second ring they get louder, much more noticeable. With every ring the footsteps continue to gain in volume. It is as if we, the listeners, are standing right next to the phone hearing the footsteps approaching from another room in the house. Rather than answer it ourselves, we let this mysterious person get it. As it turns out, the call is for this one anyway. At the fifth ring, the phone is answered, and a young female voice asks "Hello?"

Unlike the first album, where I coupled the opening instrumental with the second track in a single review, I'm choosing not to do so with this track. In fact, I won't from here on out. The difference between this instrumental and the one off SSTB isn't just that it's longer. It also has a lot more going on in it. I said before that the track entitled "Second Stage Turbine Blade" was the first half of a motif. "The Ring in Return" is the other. These motifs are generally considered to represent the passing of time in the Coheed concept.

And this makes perfect sense. IKSSE takes place approximately ten years after the events of the first album. To sum up the last ten years, Coheed and Cambria are long dead. Their only remaining child Claudio remains hidden from the rest of the worlds. Wilhelm Ryan and his right hand General Mayo Deftinwolf have taken control over the entirety of Heaven's Fence, and the rebellion that was formed by Mariah at the end of SSTB has been crushed. Keeping up his public image as a hero, Ryan has misguided the public into thinking Coheed and Cambria were terrorists. Working behind the scenes, he is currently underway to fulfilling his many year long ambition to consume all life in the Fence for his own gains. However, like many dictatorships, there is always one who is willing to continue the fight as long as there's even the shred of hope that tyranny will be eradicated. With his friends and comrades dead, Jesse (Inferno) -- the last of the K.B.I, last of the original IRO-Bots -- takes up what he was created for. War has begun.

As soon as the woman says "Hello?", piano kicks into high gear. From this, it is clear to see that the production on the record was vastly different from the previous one. There are no lyrics, with the music instead being the only way to visualize what's happening. As I've said, the motif being played during the first minute and a half seems to indicate a passing of time. It plays out repeatedly alongside heavy percussion, giving the listener the idea that something is about to happen. Indeed, as the tune begins to fade the sound of warplanes can be heard as a low, almost musical whisper accompanies the sounds. With that last quote of the song -- "Hello, Apollo. Where should I begin?" -- it is without a doubt that battle is raging.

Which is also why the song segues perfectly well into this album's title track.