In the vein of its predecessors, only worse

When Coheed and Cambria released “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow” in 2007, those paying attention rejoiced. The music it contained was easily the best thing the band had done, and perhaps more importantly, it meant the end of a four-album concept arc that had dragged on for far too long.

After a three-year wait, Coheed gave in once more to the temptation of pretentiousness: “Year of the Black Rainbow” is a prequel to the four albums that came before it. This would be acceptable if it continued to expand on the band’s formula of fusing infectiously catchy emo-tinged rock songs with a keen ear for the epic and progressive.

Unfortunately, “Year of the Black Rainbow” is a largely complacent rehashing of the band’s back catalog. It seems the group decided that because the album takes place before its last four albums lyrically, it should take place there musically, as well. The result is a disappointing hour of music — not bad, per se, but dripping with an overwhelming sense of what could have been.