The band originally called itself "Shabutie" and released the EP Delirium Trigger in 2000 using the lead vocalist's (Claudio Sanchez) science fiction comic series named "The Bag. On.Line Adventures" as inspiration for a few of their songs. Though the comic series started as a side project for Claudio, it later became a staple of the band when they change their name to the current "Coheed and Cambria," after the two lead protagonists, and dubbed the new story The Amory Wars. Using The Amory Wars as a backdrop all of their albums actually take place in the same universe. The main story following the characters Coheed Kilgannon, Cambria Kilgannon, and their son Claudio Kilgannon. To be honest with all of you, I'd like to explain the whole story entailed in The Amory Wars but, that would leave us with no space for a review so I suggest either listening to the other albums or going here for more information on that.
Another album without the band's name on it? Good thing it's pretty
Thankfully for today's review, The Afterman: Ascension actually takes place outside of the Kilgannon's storyline. Narrowing the focus on cosmonaut Sirius Amory, his investigation into "the keywork," whose source is thought to be a mysterious energy that gives nutrients to the galaxy they live in, Heaven's Fence, and the wife he leaves behind Meri. He is only accompanied by his computer system named "All Mother," that he refers to as mother throughout the concept album. With the stage set, characters paid, and a good steady metronome to keep us in time, let's dive into The Afterman: Ascension to see what it offers us!The albums opening titled "The Hollow" is a lyric-less tune relying mostly on the atmospheric strings, sound effects, and occasional dialogue between Sirius and and All Mother. The music swells, growing louder and louder until eventually cutting down to dead air signaling the distorted guitar to launch into the lead single "Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute." This track has a very No World For Tomorrow "Coheed and Cambria" vibe from the overdriven guitar riffs, the roomy drums, and bright tone of Claudio's vocals it paints the picture of the life of "Domino the Destitute," a soul caught inside "the Keywork's" construct that takes control of Sirius. It is a very intense, pulse-pounding song, that is perfect for anyone's workout mix.
The next tracks on the album "The Afterman," "Mothers of Men," and "Goodnight, Fair Lady" all take place back with Sirius' wife Meri. The first is a detailing of how Meri reacts to the news that Sirius' ship has lost communication and is a very sad song as the lyrics repeat "If he's not here than where?" This song shows just how great the use of soft singing can be as Claudio never really raises up loudly leaving the dynamics for the instrumentation around him which is quite beautiful. "Mothers of Men" and "Goodnight, My Fair Lady" are your standard Coheed songs which to be honest isn't a bad thing as the formula they have done for songs like "Ten Speed(God's Blood and Burial)" and "The Suffering" all have worked out very well. But, in this case I felt it very distracting from the main sound of the album and after listening to the second part Descension I understand why we focused on Meri so much here but sadly I find her songs to be rather boring and with much to be desired.
Finally we get to the end of the 2nd act and "All Mother" comes on to say "Caution, second entity identified." From there it's the home stretch of great sounding songs Key Entity Extraction 2-4. "Holly Wood the Cracked" starts very hard and bass favoring which had a bit afraid to see where they would go with it but, Coheed pulls out all stops telling the story of a woman who wanted to be so much like a famous actress that eventually she was deformed by the surgery to do so. After which she decides the only way to truly be like her is to destroy the original one and wow does this song rock, from the chanting "Holly wood Holly Wood" in the pre-chorus to the tone shifting bridge this is definitely one of the better songs on the album.
I Don't know what I want more... His hair or his guitar? #firstworldproblems
The next two entities are that of "Vic the Butcher" and "Evagaria the Faithful" which start out jarringly opposite of each other. "Vic the Butcher" starts with a boom and heavy guitars, the chorus of "Vic the Butcher" will have you screaming "Hang your secrets, hang them up HANG THEM UP," by the third time listening. "Vic the Butcher" was a decorated military general who committed horrific war crimes but hid them by threatening soldiers and their families until one known as Sentry attempted to stand up for himself. Sadly, Sentry was hung for these actions but their will be more on him next week. "Evagria The Faithful" starts up with a guitar riff and triangle solo fading in as one of the only helpful spirits attempts to help Sirius. She shows him her life which is a very pleasant though slightly bittersweet sounding song as she lived a life helping everyone in need she could until her life was cut short by a rare and incurable disease. This song involves a very 70's esque background guitar in the pre-chorus and drums that help illustrate a very calm and happy portrait much different than the rest of the album.
The last song on the album named "Subtraction" is a very rare song in and of itself. The reason behind this is because Claudio Sanchez is actually singing in a deeper less bright register, which after hearing the beginning of this song it makes much more sense with the the digital tones, acoustic guitar, and light electronic drums. This is Sirius' moments of realizing that maybe he abandoned Meri back on their planet and should have never left for the venture to "The Keywork" ending with "Evagria the Faithful" taking him to the next stage of the afterlife and him being referred to than on as "The Afterman."
To sum it all up this a very well done concept album with a tremendous beginning a kinda flat middle ground leading to a beautifully brilliant ending. The amount of detail in the instrumentation is amazing with most tracks fine tuning the effects of every instruments to near perfection. From the distortion, to the reverb, to the equalization everything fits together quite well and it is a marvel that as a composer Claudio Sanchez hasn't done any soundtrack composing. Either way though if definitely deserves at the very least a round of a applause at the end. Sadly, this is only part one of the double part "The Afterman" album and next week we'll plunge head first into the second half to see if the DESCEND was as good as the climb.
As always please like, share and comment below!
BUY IT: Key Entity Extraction I: Domino The Destitute, The Afterman, Key Entity Extraction III: Vic The Butcher, Subtraction
HEAR IT: The Hollow, Mothers of Men, Key Entity Extraction II:Holly Wood the Cracked, Key Extraction I V: Evagria the Faithful
TRASH IT: Goodnight, Fair Lady
*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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