Coheed and Cambria Drop New Song, “Shoulders”
Coheed and Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez teased new music earlier this week, saying in an interview that the band’s next album is “looking forward, not backwards,” and that “the [next] record is going to be what I hope people perceive this band to be in 2021/2022.” I took that to mean new music would be arriving at some point later this year, or even in 2022.
But the band’s dropped a new song today! And I instantly hear what Sanchez was talking about with regards to “modern” musical evolution. The main intro and verse riffs that drive the song are big, crunchy and groovy, almost like something from a Royal Blood song, not your typical Coheed fare. And I’m here for it! Evolution is good. That said, the song’s chorus, and therefore the whole tune in general, still sound very distinctively like Coheed. All in all, this one gets my vote.
Sanchez comments of the track:
“In art, in your career, in relationships… No matter how much you give of yourself or try, you have to accept that not everything in life can be a perfect fit.”
In a 2020 interview with MetalSucks, Sanchez shared a bit about the conceptual nature of the Coheed album he was writing at the time, which he described as Vaxis II, a follow-up to the band’s 2018 record, Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures:
“Funny, I started this song in September, it was called ‘Hallelujah Quarantine.’ It’s crazy! So in the second part of Vaxis, there’s this criminal organization called The Liar’s Club and they have this thing that sort of travels through the galaxy and they call it The Quarantine, not the actual structure but they have this celebration called The Quarantine. It’s almost like a cotillion where the young come to party and to decide their fates. But this organization is really just taking these young kids to use them as blood banks.
“Thats a very loose part within Vaxis II, this story. Looking at this, I’m like, man, I don’t know if this song is now insensitive for what we’re enduring. Is this even going to be a part of it? Am I going to have to rename this whole sort of thing that’s happening in the story and rewrite this song? I don’t know.
“There are songs. I’m not really all that worried about it. It’s just crazy that I kind of just stumbled upon this tune and I’m like, ‘Aww man. How am I gonna do that one?’”
No details yet on the official title of the new album on which “Shoulders” will appear, but we’re sure that’s coming soon enough.
Catch Coheed and Cambria on a co-headline tour with The Used in August and September. Dates:
Fri Aug 27 – Los Angeles, CA – FivePoint Amphitheatre* [tickets]
Sat Aug 28 – Phoenix, AZ – Mesa Amphitheatre* [tickets]
Mon Aug 30 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex – Outdoors* [tickets]
Tue Aug 31 – Denver, CO – Levitt Pavilion Denver* [tickets]
Thu Sep 02 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory* [tickets]
Sat Sep 04 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater* [tickets]
Sun Sep 05 – Houston, TX – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion* [tickets]
Tue Sep 07 – Wichita, KS – WAVE – Outdoors* [tickets]
Wed Sep 08 – St. Louis, MO – Saint Louis Music Park* [tickets]
Sat Sep 11 – Columbus, OH – Express Live! – Outdoors* [tickets]
Sun Sep 12 – Cleveland, OH – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica* [tickets]
Tue Sep 14 – Cincinnati, OH – The ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park* [tickets]
Wed Sep 15 – Indianapolis, IN – TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park* [tickets]
Sat Sep 18 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium – Outdoors* [tickets]
Sun Sep 19 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center* [tickets]
Tue Sep 21 – Baltimore, MD – MECU Pavilion^ [tickets]
Wed Sep 22 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater^ [tickets]
Fri Sep 24 – Jacksonville, FL – Daily’s Place^ [tickets]
* with special guest Meet Me @ The Altar
^ with special guest carolesdaughter
