Though they've been rocking together since the mid-‘90s, Claudio Sanchez (vocals/guitar), Travis Stever (guitar), Michael Todd (bass) and Joshua Eppard (drums) officially formed Coheed and Cambria in 2001 and released their debut album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, the following year. The band was praised from the get-go for their willingness to think outside of the box and Sanchez was commended for his ridiculously high vocal range. The group ocassionallyovercomplicated things and ended up with epically long tracks, but this is a small price to pay when one recognizes the level of the band's effort to express themselves. The album was revealed to be the first installment in a science fiction-based concept dreamed up by Sanchez in which two individuals, Coheed and Cambria, do not know if their children are infected with a serum that could bring about Armageddon.

Their follow-up effort, In Keeping of Silent Earth: 3, combined metal, pop and other genres with Sanchez's vocals to create a sound all their own. In 2005, came Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness, the group's third album and third installment of the sci-fi brainchild of Sanchez. The frontman's vision becomes clearer on this record, in the storyline of Coheed and Cambria that is. The record was the group's first release on their new label, and first major, Columbia.

In 2006 Todd and Eppard left the group, leaving Sanchez time to pursue a few solo projects. In 2007, with Todd back on board and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins making a guest appearance, Sanchez was able to produce the denouement of his vision, Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness. The final installment of what became a four-part series wrapped up a story that began half a decade earlier.