The Story Behind Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria, formerly Shabutie, crafts truly a different brand of music. They combine emo, punk, and progressive rock all in to one impressive shell.
Their albums (currently they have two), Second Stage Turbine Blade, and In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, tell the story of two people, Coheed and Cambria, and their kids, Matthew, Maria, Claudio, and Josephine. SSTB, while being their first album released, is actually the second in the series. IKSSE:3 is the third, the fourth album is supposedly titled "My Dearest Apollo, I'll Be Burning Star: 4," and the first album could be titled "The Bag Online Adventures."
This series of four albums depicts a science fiction story that supposedly takes place a long, long time ago in our own galaxy/universe. There's 78 planets arranged in a formation called the Keywork, which binds all the planets together to maintain peace and stability. Coheed is the male protagonist, who is in love with Cambria (could be a lover, wife, who knows; the lead singer who is doing graphic novels based on the albums hasn't released much information yet). While Cambria is away on a mission elsewhere in space, Coheed is somehow called to her. On his way to Cambria, a dragonfly carrying "the serum" lands on Coheed's chest and injects the serum into his heart. This partially awakens a force within him called "The Monstar," which has the power to create or destroy. This is fully awakened when he lays his eyes on Cambria. Coheed succumbs to the Monstar's evil side, and he goes bonkers.
Somewhere in the second half of the album, Coheed and Cambria must kill three of their four children, and then Coheed and Cambria themselves are killed. Claudio, the remaining child, goes into hiding, and doesn't come out until midway through In Keepings Secrets of Silent Earth: 3. At the beginning of IKSSE:3, a large battle takes place on Earth, the planet that apparently holds the secret to whatever's going on. The massive battle on Earth causes it to break away from the Keywork, enshrouding in a large dust cloud (if you've ever seen the cover to this album, it depicts this). Midway through the album, a being called Ambellina who watches over the Keywork is sent to Claudio to awaken him. Since Claudio is Coheed's son, he has the Monstar in him as well (it's in his bloodline). The Prize (a high-and-mighty magical being that oversees the Keywork) instructs Ambellina to become human, and trigger the Monstar within Claudio. Since Claudio battles the Monstar within him 2 to 1 (Claudio and his father versus the Monstar), he wins and harnesses the good power that the Monstar holds. To continue his quest (whatever it might be, that hasn't been released yet either), he must seek the help of Al, a psychopath-killer-rapist guy who pilots a ship called the Velourium Camper. Claudio also often confesses his love to Newo Ikkin (whose name, strangely enough spelled backwards is Nikki Owen; the band refuses to comment on this), and the third part of the story comes to a close while he writes a letter to her.
Coheed and Cambria are currently on the Equal Vision record label, and are in talks to sign to Columbia Records.