This video was shot around a couple months before No World for Tomorrow was released. In the weeks leading up to that day, the band was known to have played "Mother Superior" at various shows across the country, though from what I've understood in was under the working title "In the Pull of the Trigger" at that time. Still, every fan of any band loves hearing new material before it's officially released. It's evident that the crowd in this video is enjoying watching Claudio and Travis play a new song.

The band seems to have always loved fiddling with acoustics. While a large portion of their career and their songwriting has been focused on guitar-driven electrics and effects, they like to save room in their work for some acoustic elements. No World for Tomorrow had one already; "The Reaping" was a solemn, yet heavy acoustic piece that was highly different from Coheed's usual acoustic pieces. Most of the time, these pieces are sort of like ballads, akin to love songs. Here's where "Mother Superior" comes in.

I think this song is a different type of love song. It's not the romantic type, but the maternal type. Following whatever happened in "The Running Free" (which I still can't quite figure out), I think Claudio Kilgannon is finding himself at one last crossroad. This often happens in stories; no matter how much you try to convince yourself you're doing the right thing, or how much you may think you made up your mind, you still have misgivings. That is what I believe is happening here. Claudio is facing one more dilemma about fully accepting the destiny he was made for. He needs guidance to get him through this. What better guidance than a mother's love?

Cambria is dead, yes. However, I like to think this is a moment where she appears as a dream in Claudio's head, or perhaps may even be a real manifestation of her spirit. Either way, I believe Cambria makes a final appearance in this story, giving Claudio some final courage he needs to take down Ryan and destroy the Keywork.

"Mother Superior" has a structure that reminds me of "The Light & the Glass" from IKSSE. Both songs start off softly, and slowly build into crescendos. By the end of the songs, both also have repetitions that also slowly fade out into the next song. I think this, in part, is why I like "Mother Superior" so much. Like many acoustics on Coheed's records, it helps to break the flow of hard, edgy songs to allow the moods to simmer down momentarily and give the listener a time to catch his or her breath. Considering just what happens in the final half of this record, we sure do need to catch our breath.