After Year of the Black Rainbow was announced, there was undoubtedly an increase in hype and fanaticism amongst the die hard fans. More Coheed music was naturally a happy announcement for those of us that loved the band's work. So fanatic were some of their fans, in fact, that they couldn't help but notice something peculiar about the album title.

Each of Coheed's albums have been titled in strange ways. And I'm not talking about the long titles and choice of words, but rather the clues behind them. Each album's title has reference to its place in the story, whether subtle or obvious: The Second Stage Turbine Blade is the second part of the story. Similarly, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 and both Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV albums are the third and fourth parts of the story, respectively. With that in mind, so many people expected Year of the Black Rainbow to have a reference to the number 1 in its title. For some reason, some people were disappointed.

One really overreaching theory I heard was that the clue lay in the word "year." That is, since a year is a measure of time as one full revolution of a planet around the sun, that's where the "one" reference came in. That was by far the silliest idea I'd thought of. More to the point, it's not as if the album really needed such a reference anyway. Most of us already knew that the album would be a prequel. Still, I like to think Claudio Sanchez is a man of humor.

"One" -- the first track of the album, and chronologically the first track of The Amory Wars musical saga, is the reference to the album being the first of the series. Sometimes I can't help but think Claudio named this song as it is just to poke fun at some of us. If this is true, I approve.

Like the opening tracks of most of their records, "One" is instrumental. And it's also the first one after the guys took a small departure from that formula on No World for Tomorrow. As the song begins, it's clear it's not the same tune we're normally accustomed to. Instead, it's much more... eerie.

The song is an indicator of the bleak and dark atmosphere that the rest of the album would follow through with. It's clear already that Coheed took Ross and Barresi's ideas to heart. The songs on this album feature musician Wes Styles, notable for his keyboard playing during the band's Neverender tours. Combining elements of original tunes and a bit of the old themes into the mix, the entire song consists of Styles playing as a brooding, howl plays in the background.

"One" is my favorite intro track. The eerie and bleakness of the song gives me this chilling feeling that sits perfectly well with the prequel record. As I listen to this song I always have this feeling that, if this were a movie, we'd witness the creation of Heaven's Fence (literally), as well as a summary of events  leading up to the next song. In fact, "One" leads very smoothly into it in a way that could only be described as bad-ass, as the howling grows louder and more ominous.