My Brother's Blood Machine (album)

The album's vinyl art by Bill Scoville.

***My Brother's Blood Machine*** is the first solo album by the lead singer of Coheed and Cambria, Claudio Sanchez (who refers to himself as The Prize Fighter Inferno in order to connect the story of this album to that of *The Amory Wars*). It was officially released on October 31, 2006.

## Story

> Main article: My Brother's Blood Machine (comic)

There is currently no extra media that explicitly illustrates the story of this album, but a 6-issue comic is currently in production. In an interview with Rock Sound in 2005, Sanchez said that the story is connected to *The Amory Wars*, but "not in the most obvious way," and that the chapter is a prequel, of sorts. Chondra Echert of Evil Ink has also stated that this album is connected to *The Amory Wars* but "not the way you'd think."

The general gist is that Inferno, who dies at the end of *Good Apollo*, is resurrected (or otherwise revived) into our world, present-ish day. He wants to tell people about the Amory Wars, but decides that in order to do it, he has to tell the story of the Blood Machine first. The main plot of this album is the struggle of three families: The Early Family, The McCloud Family, and The Bleam Family. There several side plots that fans assume will link back to the main story.

A promotional blurb Sanchez frequently posted for the album read as follows:

> Long-Arm and Butchie Bleam, brothers brought together by physical distortion and social seclusion, are about to find themselves in the running for the most unusual job in the world.....DEATH! Listen to the story unfold as we follow these two misunderstood yet maniacal minstrels of macabre in a neverending race for ultimate power. Listen to the disturbing details as the songs take you through the hell that is the Blood Machine. This is a story being told in song......this is hell being unleashed through love and sound...... I am the hitchhiker doomed to tell the tale of Margretville, I am your Guide, I am the Prise Fighter Inferno.
>
>

## Editions

Initial versions of the regular releases were not packaged with a traditional lyrics booklet. Instead, it comes with a series of eight mock-tarot cards with drawings loosely related to the album's story, and the lyrics and production credits printed on the back.

Vinyl Editions

* Standard Disks
* Transparent Gold
* Black and Gold Swirl
* Blood Pool

## Critical Reception

AllMusic gave the album a three out of five stars review, while Spuntnikmusic gave it a slightly better average of three and a half out of five. It averages 4.7 out of 5 on the Google Play store.

### Charts

It peaked at #1 on Heatseekers and #119 on *Billboard* 200.

## Trivia

* The name of the album, *My Brother's Blood Machine*, is a phrase that appears in Coheed and Cambria's "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3".
* Sanchez said in an interview with Matt Pinfield that he is working with Steve Niles on the comic version of the story and it is in production. In a Twitch livestream on May 4th, Sanchez said the comic was done, but hadn't been picked up by a publisher yet, and lamented they may have to self-publish, which was possible, but not optimal.
* Sanchez gave a lot of information in the MTV interview:
	+ "Cecilia's father happens to molest her, and eventually she can't take it anymore and tries to convince Johnny to leave with her. She steals her two brothers, who happen to be twins, and Johnny decides not to go. So she ends up running away with the twins into the woods, where she meets the Bleam family."
	+ "Their mother happens to be crazy, and she ends up telling these two kids that 'God has come to me with a higher calling for you—you need to be the new Death,' and she tells them that they have to go out and collect souls for God. And so, out of their mind, they're like, 'OK, so when a body dies, how do we get the soul out of it?' They construct this Blood Machine, which basically tears a body to shreds, and they think that releases the soul."
	+ The [Bleam] family's patriarch, a meth addict, dismembers his wife when he catches her pinching from his stash, and her death sends the Bleam boys on a downward spiral toward complete madness.

## References

1. ↑ https://m.twitch.tv/videos/918338055
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1542051/20060929/story.jhtml
3. ↑ https://soundcloud.com/allthingscoheedpodcast/chondrainterview
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.discogs.com/The-Prize-Fighter-Inferno-My-Brothers-Blood-Machine/release/3040332
5. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/The-Prize-Fighter-Inferno-My-Brothers-Blood-Machine/release/11444003
6. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/The-Prize-Fighter-Inferno-My-Brothers-Blood-Machine/release/10117514
7. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/The-Prize-Fighter-Inferno-My-Brothers-Blood-Machine/release/11341537
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/EvilInkComics/status/1696962366036918459
9. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r929464
10. ↑ https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/9830/The-Prize-Fighter-Inferno-My-Brothers-Blood-Machine/
11. ↑ https://play.google.com/store/music/album/The\_Prize\_Fighter\_Inferno\_My\_Brother\_s\_Blood\_Machi?id=Byedpsmnp42ey3d7nusszpmupi4
12. ↑ https://assets.billboard.com/charts/heatseekers-albums/2006-11-18
13. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/the-billboard-200/2006-11-17
14. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJs9SBR9\_gU
15. ↑ https://www.twitch.tv/claudiopsanchez