“Change” is a scary word to utter when describing an established band.

It’s usually a no win situation. If a band changes too much, die-hard fans complain. If it stays the same, pundits complain that all its music sounds the same.

In the months leading up to the release of “Year of the Black Rainbow” the fifth album and final chapter in the epic saga created by Coheed and Cambria, the word “change” was thrown around quite a bit.

Needless to say, fans were worried.

But with the full implementation of Chris Pennie as their drummer (the former Dillenger Escape Plan drummer joined the band before the release of their fourth album, but was unable to record due to contractual obligations to Dillinger), and a unique blend of electronic tunes, Coheed has done enough to please both die-hards and critics.

“Year of the Black Rainbow” is the prequel in the band’s Amory Wars story, created by front man and guitarist Claudio Sanchez.

The album featured two pre-released tracks, “The Broken,” and “Here We Are Juggernaut,” which gave fans a taste of classic Coheed while sampling some of its newer sound, spearheaded by Pennie.

Listeners will be able to know right off the bat that “Black Rainbow” isn’t your typical Coheed album.

“Guns of Summer” offers incredible drum rolls by Pennie and the typical riffs by Sanchez and lead guitarist Travis Stever.

Sanchez’s classic lyrics come out in full force in “Far,” a slow paced, electronic song reminiscent of a song by Sanchez’s side project, “A Prize Fighter Inferno. And “Pearl of the Star” is a romantic ballad that is Sanchez’s most sentimental work since “Wake Up,” off the band’s third album.

If there is one complaint about the album, it’s the lack of an epic finish fans have grown accustomed to. “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3,” the album featured “The Velorium Camper” trilogy toward the end, and “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness,” ended with a four-part epic concluding with “The Final Cut,” one of the band’s finest pieces of work.

“Year of the Black Rainbow” features nothing of the sort, which is disappointing to say the least.

But it does not overshadow the album as a whole. “Year of the Black Rainbow” offers enough change to keep the band moving forward, and is ripe with enough recognizable work to please longtime Coheed fans.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7942 or

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