It's a double-feature tonight! I've been wanting to work on this post since Thursday, but school, work, and general laziness prevented me from doing so. However, if I plan on having this entire album reviewed by the end of the month, I realize I should have a review up at least every other day. To get me in the mood for reviewing, I popped in the album and listened to it all the way through. Listening to it didn't just put me in the mood, it also put me back on yet another Coheed craze. So much of a craze, in fact, that I'm going to be posting not one, but TWO reviews tonight, back to back.

First, "Ten Speed (Of God's & Burial)." Ahhhhh, how I love this song. I've always loved it since I first listened to it, even when Claudio Sanchez's voice still irked me. For a while it dropped off as a favorite tune, but in trying to prepare for this review (and just general listening of the record) I remembered how good it was. The song is undoubtedly the most fast paced one on the record. It's a definite hooker; the song moves from the first bouncy riff to Claudio final shriek of "Ten Speed of God's BLOOD!" in less than four minutes, but it doesn't require any longer.

From the very start, the band kicks in with quick riffs, Claudio and Travis both playing a similar series of notes, but with Travis performing a higher octave. Mic Todd plays along to the same exact riff on bass. The added effect of simple but heavy percussion by Josh creates an altogether fluid tune that holds its own as a strong piece despite coming directly after "Welcome Home." Even the solo is just as bouncy as Travis uses the same verse riff but puts it to an even higher pitch while Claudio plays over it. The song slows down at the bridge, ending with a strange and mysterious bit of mumbled dialogue in the background, before kicking back in with a final chorus.
 
Claudio's vocals sync pretty much with the guitar riffs, many times his singing following the same pitch as the music. I'm not going to go into too much detail about his singing here. It's just as catchy as the instruments can be, but it's nothing truly outstanding. If anything, it just demonstrates that Claudio is very much getting better at controlling his voice.

Regardless of the song's subject matter, it's another example of Coheed and Cambria's ability to write some truly upbeat tunes in spite of the dark lyrics. And speaking of dark subject matter...

If In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 was an album describing the characters' physical confrontations, then this album is about psychological and mental conflicts. It isn't too surprising given the subtitle of the album (From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness). The  majority of the record takes place within the mind of this still enigmatic Writer dude. What does he even have to do with the events of Heaven's Fence? Well, as this song and as the album turns out to show, he has just about everything to do with Heaven's Fence. Here's a hint -- notice that he's merely referred to as "the Writer."

Still unsure? I'll just go ahead and give a synopsis of the song. Following his disturbing vision of burying Erica alive, the Writer is horrified by his twisted fantasies. However, his delusions are far from over. He experiences another horrific vision of his bicycle which he calls Ten Speed, which appears to the Writer in a demonic form. Through conversation, Ten Speed tries to convince the Writer that there's another way to end his suffering other than by killing Erica. Instead, he must kill off a character from the story he is writing, a character who represents Erica. Only then can his pain end.