Year of the Black Rainbow

Year of the Black Rainbow is the fifth studio album by American progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria, released on April 13, 2010 through Columbia. The album is a prequel to the band's previous four concept albums, which comprise The Amory Wars narrative. Year of the Black Rainbow marks drummer Chris Pennie's only studio appearance. It is the last album to feature Michael Todd on bass. The band began recording the album in 2009. Prior to the release of the album, Coheed released two singles, "The Broken" and "Here We Are Juggernaut". The album received mainly positive reviews and peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 35 on the UK Albums Chart. The deluxe version of the album was accompanied by a novel written by the band's vocalist/guitarist Claudio Sanchez and writer Peter David. Background and recording The band began recording the album in summer 2009 and finished up later that year in November. Vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Claudio Sanchez noted that the album is very melodic. The album is produced by Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction) and Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool). According to Sanchez, "they have helped us evolve our sound to be more powerful and dynamic than ever and we think it's definitely our best work to date." Sanchez also states that, "musically, there's a very cinematic tone. There is a lot of atmosphere on this record, and that's something I've always wanted to incorporate on the other records, but just never could attain it as we have on this one." The album has a notably different sound to it than the band's other work. It includes light elements of psychedelic rock, which are not present in the band's other albums.