As the little band of heroes continues its journey aboard The Camper Velourium, the music takes a slightly heavier tone. One of my favorite things about this series is how the music becomes progressively heavier and more aggressive from "Faint of Hearts" to "Al the Killer." In the second part to this series, "The Camper Velourium II: Backend of Forever" is quite the middle-ground in terms of aggression. It's very fitting, considering that the Camper Velourium series revolves around Al, the pilot of this ship. The songs in the series, as I explained in my last review, are how Claudio explains and develops this character. In the previous song we discovered Al's disturbing sexual obsession with his sniper rifle. In this song, we see a slightly more human side to him.

Enamored by the presence of Ambellina, Al begins to think back to all his failed relationships. It isn't surprising for him to be captivated by the Prise. The Prise are often spoke about with reverence and respect, and are known to be enchantingly beautiful figures. However, Ambellina finds Al distasteful and keeps her distance from him, focusing solely on her mission to guide Claudio. The scorn and rejection from Ambellina drives a certain wedge into Al's already twisted mind. The song juggles between Al's desire to pursue Ambellina -- more out of lust than any genuine love -- and his equally strong desire to ignore his feelings.


Musically, it's important that the song is slightly heavier than "Faint of Hearts." As the listener gets more insight into Al's character, we find that the story is taking on a darker and more twisted tone. And yet, the song is not without its lighter moments. The opening riff is a series of arpeggio-like notes played in sequence from high to low, and then repeated again. This style of riff playing, if it could be called that, would become a staple in what could be called the Coheed sound -- although many fans and critics tend to point out that there is no Coheed sound at all, as the style seems to change very often. It is important, however, to note that this method of note playing is in fact seen in Coheed and Cambria's later records.

I sometimes think this song is a chance for the guys to just rock out and have fun. At times it seems chaotic and messy, complete with Josh's erratic drum beats. Travis and Claudio switch up between rhythm and lead in various parts of the song, and Mic's bass lines are equally oddly placed. However, there's a bit of beauty in how this "mess" is played out.

And with that, I end with a message to the American readers out there: Happy Thanksgiving!