2006, Equal Vision
The highly-antipated debut release from The Prize Fighter Inferno, My Brother's Blood Machine, is a little unexpected in its stylings, especially considering the source of the music: Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria. As one would expect, the album is thick with story in the same over-the-top, 'fans of progressive rock' style as Sanchez's primary project. This isn't to dismiss the story at its base; indeed, neither The Prize Fighter Inferno nor, arguably, Coheed and Cambria, isn't ofsetting in its plot-centric style, though it is often argued against as if it were some sort of monstrosity.
The real point worth arguing isn't that a plot exists in the music, but rather the veracity at which it's discussed and pushed to the limelight. It may be entertaining, but it would probably be more worthwhile to let the music speak for itself: having a plot doesn't make something worthwhile, as much as fans of Coheed and Cambria may try to argue for it.
My Brother's Blood Machine is disjointed stylistically, encompassing a variety of musical streams, from acoustic folk, to melodic electronic pop, to a mainstream pop jaunt with "Accidents". Each song is productive, adding more to the album as the tracks go on, but they are certainly not consistent and that's a definite downfall to this collection of songs as an album unit. Listening to My Brother's Blood Machine feels more like listening to a mix of unrelated songs that Sanchez liked, and that's where the real problems with the album come forward for examination.
One of the most important precepts of creating an album is some sort of continuity between tracks, and when that is lost, the reasoning for even having an album is lost. An album shouldn't be a showcase for writing songs, especially considering the rise of digital technology. This is one of the problems digital distribution has caused: people find themselves re-evaluating what an album is, and invariably it stands to reason that an album should be a coherent music unit. My Brother's Blood Machine fails at this important task, despite any well-intentioned efforts on Claudio Sanchez's part, but it does have some interesting bits.
Sanchez demonstrates a melodic sensibility about the music that creates a listenable element. To dismiss this set of tracks as being terrible is unreasonable, but to call it an album, I'd say, is. The Prize Fighter Inferno could live on, and if some real care is given to future songs as an album and not as individual songs, there might be some real success to come.