After the eight minute epic that was "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" it's hard to think that the rest of the album of the same name could be as great as that one song. However, Coheed and Cambria managed to put together a much shorter tune that, while in many ways lacks the epic scope of its predecessor, stands on its own two feet successfully. With "The Ring in Return" and "In Keeping Secrets" under the listener's belt, we next proceed onto "Cuts Marked in the March of Men." Pretentious sounding? Perhaps. Excellent use of alliteration? Yes. Badass? Absolutely.

This is going to be a rather short review tonight. Much as I like this song there isn't a whole lot I can really talk about. But, let's get going anyway!

I didn't mention much about the production of the record on the last review so I'll go ahead and make a point here. Long before this song begins it's clear that the band worked with a better production sound than in SSTB. If it wasn't obvious enough in the first two tracks, this song makes it very clear. Of particular notice to me is how much easier it was for me to hear Mic's bass parts. Vocally, Claudio makes a return to the layering style of the last record, in that he recorded his vocals from multiple sources and synced them together. This sort of layering is not unique among Coheed and Cambria. Many bands utilize this to great degrees (one that really comes in mind is Alice in Chains). The fact that Coheed DOES do this only emphasizes their technical prowess, as trying to match your vocal tempo to another recording can in fact be difficult. Not impossible, but difficult.

At this point in the story, we're introduced to newcomers Chase and Sizer. A second generation of IRO-Bots created by Jesse, the two end up playing a pivotal role in the events to come. Chase resembles the body of a four year old girl, but has the mind of an intelligent young woman, using her IRO-Bot powers to foresee the future, much in the same way Cambria could when she was alive. On the other hand, Sizer is very similar to Coheed. Further exploration of The Amory Wars reveals that these two were created by Jesse as another means of helping to take down Wilhelm Ryan and his United Red Army (URA). In that sense, they are his "children." Through careful analyzing of Claudio's lyrics, what we actually hear in this song is not just the continuation of battle, but actual character development.

As battle rages on between Jesse's rebellion and the URA, Chase is captured by the enemy, which hopes to utilize her precognitive abilities against her and the rebellion. Sizer, who feels that Jesse has no love or affection for him, sacrifices himself to save Chase in a partly selfish attempt to gain Jesse's notice -- with the end result being the URA capturing Sizer and taking him off planet for "interrogation."

As I said, very short review tonight. I could have spent ages trying to come up with something more to write but the fact is I really couldn't. I'll try to put more effort into these in future.