What genre is Coheed & Cambria? My opinion.

Hi all, making this post as I've seen lots of opinions on what people think C&C should be since the release of FoMB and wanted to weigh in. Let me be clear at the outset I don't think other people are wrong. Everyone's opinions are valid and I post this in the spirit of discussion.

I first started listening to C&C after the release of NWFT; I near instantly fell in love then listened to the first 3 albums and was blown away. They've been my favourite band since.

I'd always described them broadly as a prog-metal band - even though there's always had elements of prog, post-hardcore, traditional punk, metal, pop etc.

When I see people say they miss the sounds of the first 3-4 albums, I totally get it; I started listening during the 'big 4' era (just about) myself. I also seen opinions that their current style isn't what they listen to them for, that they can get that elsewhere; they want music with multiple phases, complex time signatures and structures etc.

However it's been a long time since the the big 4, and a lot of music. What I've come to realise about C&C is there is no genre or specific description which encapsulates their entire body of work - put simply, C&C is whatever Claudio wants it to be any any given time. It's simply one man's musical journey we're experiencing that has defied and will continue to defy any attempt to place it with any degree of specificity.

Tl;dr

If you've ever thought "this doesn't sound like Coheed" or "a Coheed album is X thing", then you're looking at it wrong (in my opinion)

Thinking about his work as a whole, it's one big journey, it's fluid and dynamic and constantly in change - you could say the entire journey, whenever that ends, it's a concept in and of itself of one person's evolving musical journey.

Concepts within a concept... what could be more Coheed than that??