A Musician's Growth: The Coheed Backstory

This last week I finally did a Coheed shuffle with their four albums (and some live stuff mixed in there too). It was the first shuffle I've done since their last album came out and it may be the first one that included their third album too. I've done Coheed days where I just listen to all four albums in a row or whatever, but the reason why I bother bringing this up is that it changed the way I feel about their progression as musicians.
Brief backstory: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (Coheed's 2nd album) was the first Coheed album I ever heard (and as a fun side note, it is the only times that I purchased an album without ever having heard a single song from the artist. It was recommended to me by someone I didn't even really know, but who I knew had pretty good taste in music. It turned out beautifully, but I probably won't ever do that again), and I immediately grew obsessed. It not only introduced me to the idea of concept albums (or bands as they have turned out), but it is an amazing amazing album. Next, I went backwards and listened to Second Stage Turbine Blade (theier 1st album). Again, I was absolutely blown away by this band. Some time went by between this point and the release of their third album Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. I: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness. I loved this album when it came out, but I would be lying if I said I thought it was as extraordinary as their first two. If the first two both receive perfect 10s, then this one gets 9-9.5. Then, last year their 4th album--Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. II: No World for Tomorrow--came out and I'll be honest, I didn't really like it at first. I'll go into why in the next post, but I found myself with mixed feelings about a band that I had not only been in love with but was also heavily influenced by. It was very discouraging to say the least.
For the sake of space (and hopefully breaking up the monotony) I will just end here by saying that this recent shuffly lasted a few days and was excellent. It allowed me to put all of the albums into perspective in a way that I hadn't been able to just by listening to them all in a row.
More on this to come.