I hopped on Coheed pretty late. Almost exactly a year ago now I remembered that "Welcome Home" sounded really sick on Rock Band, gave Good Apollo (not typing out the whole name, lol) a listen, and entered into a months long hyperfixation that I'm still probably swimming in, to be honest. It's just something about their particular blend of ultra-indulgent prog, heart-on-your-sleeve 2000s emo, and obvious fascination with 70s-80s arena rock that appeals to my dork ass nerd sensibilities. There's an alternate timeline where I get really into these guys in middle or high school and become extremely annoying about them. There but for the grace of God go I.
I feel like a lackluster ending suite keeps No World For Tomorrow (once again not typing in the whole LONG ASS NAME) from being talked about as one of their best, because tracks 2-8 are all fucking fantastic and wonderfully diverse. The title track has drumming evocative of a military march and acts as a sort of call-to-arms. "Feathers" is a "Jessie's Girl" style throwback that would've been right at home on old rock radio. There's a perfect 1-2 punch with "The Running Free" as the anthemic, constantly driving, obvious single before it goes right into the overdramatic (complimentary!) ballad "Mother Superior." My personal favorite is the hard rock cut "Justice in Murder" with its absolutely HUGE chorus (hook writing is one of Coheed's greatest strengths.)
But then there's "The End Complete;" the aforementioned suite that leave much to be desired. Outside of the second part "Radio Bye Bye" it's other pieces are largely forgettable, and I feel like when albums don't end all that strongly their impact is dulled. Outside of that I think a particular barrier to entry for No World For Tomorrow is Claudio Sanchez's voice. This is true of any Coheed record but he's particularly in his higher register here. I personally love the way it cuts through clearly in the instrumentation but I could see it being absolutely maddening to another listener, along with the way he chooses to enunciate his lyrics (the way he pronounces "baby" on "Mother Superior" is particularly deranged.)
I'll also briefly touch on the "storyline" of the album. In case you were unaware, all of Coheed's music (save for one record) is based off Sanchez's original sci-fi epic The Amory Wars. Personally, I greatly admire the ambition and confidence to center all of a band's output around just doing concept albums AND for it to ultimately work out (there's comic books and everything!) However, even in months of listening to the band A LOT I have barely engaged with the story. Ultimately these songs can be about whatever, and I appreciate that the concept isn't totally overbearing in that regard. So if you were worried about having to understand a bunch of Lore to really get engaged, fret not.