The Prize Fighter Inferno Side Project Takes A New Direction For Claudio Sanchez with The City Introvert

3.9 out of 5 stars

Most people won't have ever heard of The Prize Fighter Inferno side project by Coheed and Cambria's front man, Claudio Sanchez, and it is not a project that I feel most people will easily enjoy.

Let me explain…

This project started as an offshoot of The Amory Wars storyline that Sanchez created for almost all the songs that Coheed and Cambria have created. 

Basically, it is an intergalactic war with tons of subplots and characters that branch off of the main storyline.

Think of it as a much more twisted version of Star Wars.

This new album, titled The City Introvert, doesn't seem so directly related to the Amory Wars or the main character, Jesse, as past songs through this project.

It definitely feels inherently related to the pandemic and passing that experience as a filter for how these songs came about.

There are no explicit references to anything related to the title character, and, in this way, I actually think this particular album is setup to reach and be liked by a wider audience.

However, I also believe that only true C&C fans even bother with it, unfortunately.

One thing to note is that the sound is nothing like Coheed's sound. The songs are more reminiscent of Prince or The Weeknd than the prog-rock titan of Coheed.

One cool thing about this album is that it features the other side project related to Coheed and Cambria, Weerd Science (the rapping name of Coheed drummer Josh Eppard) on the track "Stray Bullets."

I have a sinking feeling that only hardcore fans of Sanchez and Coheed will truly enjoy his solo stuff, and I can't say that even I truly like all the songs, but I do think it is great that this side project exists so that we can see how talented of a singer and composer Sanchez is on his own as well.

One thing that I noticed about the album is that it has a similar sound through a lot of the songs. It's not as varied as the first album, My Brother's Blood Machine.

The lyrics do suggest a lot of sorrow and hard times, but it is actually hard to tell if these lyrics are personal or written in a character that Sanchez has created or some combination. 

I still think it is worth a listen, and knowing that it is not a mainstream pop album, you can get a good listen out of it. And unlike those mainstream pop songs, you won't hear any of the songs a million times and get sick of them.