Luckily, last week we went through the history of Coheed and Cambria so that this week, we just catch you up with where the lead characters were at the end of Ascension before we move forward.. Our lead character is Sirius Amory who has currently been guided into a deep layer of "the keywork" by an entity known as "Evagria the Faithful." His ship was destroyed by a frequency shot out by another entity moments after landing in what is known as "the keywork." "The keywork," is thought to be a mysterious energy source that supplies energy to the 78 other planets in their cosmos. After finding "the keywork," with help by his companion AI the "All Mother," Sirius discovers that it is inhabited, and supplied of energy, by souls that have not passed on to the afterlife. Eventually, Sirius becomes taken over by these entities one by one as they depict their life and death through memories. Back on their home planet however, his wife Meri has received news that his ship has lost contact and it is assumed that Sirius is dead. In the deluxe edition there is a little more content offered by a storybook that tells of a character named Colten whom stops her from drinking an alcoholic beverage laced with bendzodiazepine, after she goes to a bar to deal with her emotions. During this time, there is foreshadowing that he will become her new romantic love interest. For more details on last week's review head on over here. Now for our main attraction, the conclusion of Coheed and Cambria's two part "The Afterman" saga entitled The Afterman: Descension. Let's see if the fall can be just as good, if not better than, the rise.
The album opens with the track "Pretelethal" which starts out slowly, with a very cool effect on the vocals making it sound like Claudio is in a cave-like structure. The song does eventually kick in with very big boomy drums and a wall of electric guitars, opening us to theme of the second act with the repeated, "Who will repair this broken heart?". That's right everyone, The Afterman: Descension becomes more of a tragic love story, slightly steering the focus away from the sci-fi afterlife as the first part did. After the introduction track comes down, it launches full force into the last entity on the double album entitled, "Key Entity V: Sentry The Defiant."
Gotta say I love the artwork on both of these albums. Quite surreal.
This song hits hard with a story about "Sentry the Defiant" whom, in his lifetime, was a hard worker that earned his way through the military ranks, until, being ordered to bomb an off-world structure that would result in many innocent casualties. By defying this order he is put on "Vic the Butcher's" blacklist before being hung for attempting to rise up against the tyrannical military general. This song is a stand out track on the album for hitting all the right notes from the dirty sound of the guitars, to Claudio's vocals depicting a good-willed man who is sick of seeing "Vic the Butcher's" malicious control and stands up for what he believes is right, hoping to inspire others to do the same. Inevitably, Sirius shows Sentry that his life is not defined by moment in time, allowing the entity and Sirius to move the plane on enlightenment known as the Samaritaine.The album than does a jump to Sirius being home discovering what felt like a week in "the keywork" was actually 547 days on his planet. The follow-up entitled, "The Hard Sell" takes place right before Sirius is set to unveil his findings to the world. This is my favorite track on the album as the lyrics speak of what would happen if people were to discover that there was no true after life, just absorption into "the keywork." Strictly off of that, it garners five stars from me, making one delve deep into thought. That is until the pre-chorus has the instrumentation strike with every word as if it were piercing into you, leading into a chorus that just cranks it up to eleven in terms of energy. Major accolades go the solo though as I could see where this could easily turn into an overblown, straight out of the 80's solo, but, they keep it very confined and relaxed. This song ends with Sirius stepping in front of the crowd deciding to lie and say that he found nothing that would lead to believe it was an afterlife.
The next song "Number City" is shocking from the start as "Attention we have got a medical emergency," on and at first one can be rather confused with what was going on. This song takes place after the song following it so we discover that both Sirius and Meri have been in a car accident and Sirius is in critical condition though he is able to see Meri is in much worse condition and the paramedics find out that she is actually pregnant while testing her condition. This song is a fun ride as it jars you at the beginning with it's industrial rock mixed with 70's guitar sound. I must admit though this is probably my least favorite songs on the album though I do enjoy the chorus I find it falls a little flat after "The Hard Sell."
"Gravity's Union" takes place before the crash where we see the conversation between Meri and Sirius. Where in, she tells Sirius she is in love with Colten and pregnant with his child. She moved on because she felt she was always second to his work, resulting in Sirius losing control of the car and the ensuing crash from "Number City." This song jumps right back up there with both ghostly and the industrial rock sound backing vocals adding great depth as Claudio laments about losing Sirius losing the love of his life pleading her to remember the better days. This song really tugs at the heart strings as Sirius accepts that he was wrong but sadly, Meri has passed away and will never know. But let's talk about the instruments that just create a wall of energy surrounding this song, from the drums dancing around the simple beat, the rhythm guitars swelling throughout the song until the bridge where they palm-mute to show the tension of Dr. Straight's surgery to try and save Meri.
"...A beautiful album not just hitting the mark, but, blowing it out of the water..."
The next two songs "Away We Go" and "Iron Fist" signal the end of the second act and beginning of the final act of our story. As Meri's life flashes before her eyes, she eventually finds herself back in the Jersey City dunes and approaches a young Sirius Amory, a memory from one of their first dates. As she speaks to him her world around her is transformed as she finds herself encased in the limbo of "the Keywork" though she is unaware of where she is, she feels at peace. This song is very great as it's very pleasant sound considering the circumstances in the story, adds an inverse from the rest of the album's dark and sometimes dreary tones. "Iron Fist" takes place after Sirius is released from the hospital and admits internally that he was angry not at Meri, or Colten, but himself when he found out she could not be with him. The iron fist mentioned in the title relates to both him losing control of the car and his decision to go to "the Keywork" to find something great. He realizes though that none of it matter without her by his side, and my god does Claudio express this through his singing and the acoustic guitars with electric accompaniment make this track truly beautiful.This brings us to the last two songs on the album entitled "Dark Side of Me" and "2's My Favorite" with the "Dark Side of Me" picking up where "Iron Fist" left off. This song has Sirius come across Colten who he wishes would either not notice him or end his life. Colten instead asks him why returned after so long instead of letting Meri going after knowing that it couldn't be so simple as to come back with open arms after abandoning her. Sirius eventually breaks down and contemplates suicide until eventually deciding on a new plan. This song is the only single as of now for the album and I can see why, it is a great tracks from it's composing to it's lyrics utilizing dynamics to fire on all cylinders in the chorus but being able to pull things down for a slow jazz feel in the verses. "2's My Favorite 1" is where Sirius decides to make a new ship and plot a course for "the Keywork" showing that all that is important to him is to help Meri pass over to the stage of enlightenment and find peace, regardless of how it things will end up for him. I'd like to think with its optimistic sound that he succeeds as this song really rounds out the album beautifully delivering an energy charged love song.
In all, The Afterman: Descension, is a beautiful album not just hitting the mark, but, blowing it out of the water with what has to be the best Coheed and Cambria album so far. These songs offer everything from the hard, and edgy , to the soft ballads. While I feel the only song to truly be "bad" on this album is "Number City" I suggest checking out, not only this album but, the whole The Afterman Saga. Next week, we'll see how much we can hold our Temper, with the new Bullet For My Valentine album!
As always please like, share and comment below!
BUY IT: Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant, The Hard Sell, Gravity's Union, Iron Fist, Dark Side of Me, 2's My Favorite 1
HEAR IT: Pretelethal, Away We Go
TRASH IT: Number City
*As with all things the opinions expressed our purely that of the author and should be taken as such.
** All images, music, and information used are for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement intended.
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