When the Color… album was released, Sanchez was beset by self-doubt. Going back into space clearly suits the singer. Now I’ve just become so comfortable with it, I find it to be more fun because I’m allowed to take these things and try to form them into these other bodies of work. Initially it was just because I was insecure as a frontman way back when. Most singers or songwriters are coming from an autobiographical standpoint, primarily, and I just don’t choose to tell my story in that genre. “I think it’s just my choice: I want to tell that story. Why do you think the Amory Wars remains such a pivotal part of your make-up? We’re fitting in the foundations on this record as to who we’re going to follow in the next few stories.” But this story is the first one, it’s introducing us to a new cast of characters, their goals, their mission, their love interests and that’s pretty much it. We know he’s coming, we just don’t know how. He has a very relevant position in the Amory Wars universe and we don’t really give it up in the first record. “Axis is the son of these two characters, Creature and Sister Spider. And so this time around I wanted to figure out a clever way to make this part five and that’s sort of why I broke it up into a pentalogy.

“I decided that every Coheed record has some sort of numeric value to it, so, you know, Second Stage…, …Silent Earth: 3, everything has some sort of place in the mythology of the story that surrounds the band. It’s also the first part of a ‘pentalogy’ of albums, which makes Vaxis… the first of five albums to take us on an elongated arc somewhere beyond the sun. And while Sanchez might have returned to his place among the stars, upcoming ninth album Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures is a whole other Amory War universe to discover.

Casino Kid and The Amory Wars Crossover