Sanchez’s sci-fi epic turned out to have little in common with the dystopian fantasy expanded upon over the years by the four canonical Alien movies, but even as the vague references to things like “the Keywork” and “Trimages” cropped up on Coheed’s albums, I was unable to abandon the inference I had made when listening to that first disc. Even now, as the sweeping story comes to its musical conclusion, I cling tenaciously to a perceived connection between the two tetrologies, determined to forge a link between the two at all costs. This effort has been surprisingly successful. Despite their initially superficial similarities, I have managed to identify a number of thematic concordances that all but prove my quixotic thesis: the four Coheed CDs and the four Alien movies are decidedly analogous.

The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002) and Alien (1979)

The first in their respective series, Alien and TSSTB each demonstrate a sparse, stripped-down aesthetic that suggests a broader, more epic context by dropping careful hints. Like Scott’s film, the album hones in on interpersonal tensions instead of preoccupying itself with the grandeur of the sci-fi backdrop. In addition to the above-quoted simulacrum of the film’s famous depiction of the parasite, the lyrics make repeated reference to sending an “S.O.S.” in the song “Hearshot Kid Disaster,” echoing the distress beacon that drives the action of Alien. Coheed’s taut, intimate compositions on the album also evoke Scott’s emphasis on the stark, claustrophobic interiors of the film’s spacecraft, Nostromo. If Alien is the horror movie of the bunch, TSSTB is definitely the “horror album.”

In Keeping Secrets of the Silent Earth: 3 (2003) and Aliens (1986)

As follow-ups to debut successes, both Aliens and IKSSSE enjoyed bigger budgets, which enabled a robust expansion of the scope of the action. Each adopted a more martial tone than its predecessor, with James Cameron’s inclusion of ass-kicking space marines effectively paralleled by lyrics on the album’s title track enjoining the listener to “man your battle stations.”

The lyrics also reference the endangerment of children, which Cameron introduces as a main theme in his film by way of the character Newt, a small girl orphaned by the alien onslaught. Aliens was the first film to include a situation that would become endemic to the series, in which a character incubating an alien chestburster begs to be killed, and the repeated line “pull the trigger and the nightmare stops” in the song “Three Evils” seems to evoke similar themes. Cameron’s popcorn-munching, high-adrenaline take on the subject matter is also mirrored by the band’s inclusion of a pair of straightforward pop tunes on the album, expanding their fanbase at the expense of compositional high-mindedness.

Good Apollo, I’m a Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (2005) and Alien 3 (1992)

Fight Club director David Fincher’s contribution to the canon was plagued by difficulties in production, and he has subsequently all but disowned it. Nevertheless, there are some definite parallels between the movie and Coheed’s cumbersomely titled third album. The second track, “Welcome Home,” is a titanic Zeppelin-esque rocker that set expectations ludicrously high, echoing a fate that befell the film in pre-production when a rumor began circulating that the aliens were headed for Earth. After this hard-rocking opening salvo, however, Coheed retreats into rubbery, psychedelic meandering, in a manner not unlike Fincher’s surreal, dream-like presentation of Alien 3.

Good Apollo, I’m a Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow (2007) and Alien: Resurrection (1997)

The fourth installments of the two series each take a definite turn into camp. The movie is a sprawling, big-budget mess, riddled with deficiencies but still ultimately enjoyable, and the same thing could be said for the album. The big, dumb action flick aesthetic that Cameron flirted with in the first film is gleefully achieved by inexperienced French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and the final chapter of Coheed’s tale is similarly defined by its arena-ready choruses and superfluous production wizardry. Alien: Resurrection was written by popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer scribe Joss Whedon, whose inclusion is roughly analogous to Coheed’s enlistment of big-name producers Rick Rubin and Nick Raskulinecz, as well as a new session drummer, the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins. While the film braces for a thrilling conclusion that showcases an alien-infested spaceship on a collision course for Earth, the payoff isn’t quite there. Unfortunately, the same could be said for “V – On the Brink,” the concluding chapter of the Coheed saga.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this little nugget of music critic and sci-fi nerd gamesmanship, but as Bill Paxton’s character says in Aliens, “Game over man! Game over!” And it is over, as long as Coheed doesn’t release their equivalent of Alien Vs. Predator.

Coheed and Cambria play with Clutch and the Fall of Troy on Nov. 9 at the Warfield, 982 Market, SF. $27.50. (415) 775-9949.