Claudio Sanchez – How Parenthood Has Changed Coheed and Cambria’s ‘The Amory Wars’

Coheed and Cambria have a new album underway, titled Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind. If you've been following the band's storyline The Amory Wars over time, you may notice how it's changed. Frontman Claudio Sanchez attributes that change to his experience becoming a father.

Coheed's 2015 album The Color Before the Sun is the only one in their discography that doesn't follow along with the concept, and 2018's Vaxis I: The Unheavenly Creatures marked the band's return to the storyline. Vaxis II serves as the second installment of what will eventually be a five-part series within that narrative. But, rest-assured, you don't have to have a complete understanding of the storyline in order to enjoy the new album.

"A lot of the themes inside the record are very universal, so you don't really have to consume the concept to enjoy sort of the statements and the messages in the music," Sanchez told Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez.

"This is sort of a new story within The Amory Wars arc, and it tells the story of a new family. That's pretty much it, it's just kind of the struggles of parenthood… these two characters have a son that has come into the world with a situation that they're trying to navigate around."

The frontman admitted that he sees himself as the main character in the story.

"When I started writing this stuff, I was writing from the perspective of the adolescent — the kid coming into his own and trying to figure out adulthood. Now, I'm writing a story from the perspective of a father and trying to navigate that," he elaborated.

Sanchez's son Atlas is currently 7-years-old, and he's made his way onto the record in more ways than one. Not only are the themes inspired by him, but he actually sang on the opening track, "The Embers of Fire."

How's that for a Show-and-Tell story at school?

Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind arrives May 27 in various formats, including a deluxe box set. Pre-order it on the band's website, and tune into Loudwire Nights tonight at 7PM ET to hear more about the album.

Loudwire Nights with Toni Gonzalez airs nightly starting at 7PM ET. You can tune in anytime, from anywhere right here or by downloading the Loudwire app.