Who is THE AFTERMAN?

Now I know the band "Boys Like Girls" have been trying to blow up the twitter feeds with the #boyslikegirlsareback tags. But I'm here to say right now, in a very definitive manner.... That "Coheed and Cambria" is BACK! Yes, it has been a few short years since the release of Year of the Black Rainbow back in 2010 and while I enjoyed the snippets of the album I did hear, sadly I could never get into it as much as I did Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: No World For Tomorrow. So today, we're gonna take a look at their newest venture entitled The Afterman:Ascension, which is the first of a two part concept album by the New York quartet that was released on October 9,2012 via Fontana/INgrooves. But before we do that lets dive into some history.

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.

Some Nights I Just Wanna Have Fun.

“Hey have you heard this new song?” (puts on “We Are Young”)

“No what is it?”

“It’s Fun!”

“Well I’d say it’s rather slow and pretentious but I mean hey whatever floats your boat.”

“No dumbass, the band’s name is FUN.”

 

An album cover with no band name? WHAT IS THIS!?

That’s pretty much how my introduction to this band went and I have to say upon first listen I was rather unimpressed. I thought they’d be a one hit wonder like Goyte and within a few months I would not ever hear of them again. But, since I’m reviewing there sophomore album “Some Nights,” it’s obvious that I was wrong in that observation of the band. Way wrong. So, before we jump into the album review, as always, it’s time for a little history lesson. 

  

Before fun, lead vocalist Nate Ruess formed the band The Format back in 2001 and had his first break into the world of fame with the album “Dog Problems.” Sadly, for unknown reasons, the band decided they would not be coming back together to make another album and quickly disbanded. It was in this time that Nate started talking to Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff about forming a new band in New Jersey. Eventually in August of 2009 the band Fun(.) released their first album “Aim and Ignite” to a pretty positive response from a majority of critics. In 2011, Nate Reuss approached Jeff Bhasker about producing the album as the band wanted to work in a hip-hop flair to their sound. Though preoccupied at first eventually Jeff met up with Nate and the two went back to his studio where he heard a rough belting of “We Are Young.” He told Nate to come back the next day with his band and they would start the recording process. Some Nights was released on February 21, 2012 which receives mixed to positive reviews by critics. Which is nice but how does the D3C0D3R feel about this behemoth of an album?

Well not to spoil anything too soon but I love this album and it not only one of my top favorite albums of 2012 but it is sitting up there with the few of my favorite albums of all time. For those of you that wanted to know my overview of the album, there you go, check out the buy it, hear it and trash it section. For everyone else let’s dive in to what makes the album magnificent.

To start, you could not believe my surprise when this album started off with a very nice intro song simply entitled: Some Nights(intro). This song is very queen-esque from its backing vocals to the ensemble of strings in the background slowly gaining momentum before finally ending with a huge belting note from Nate Reuss that is rather impressive. Though the applause can seem rather tongue in cheek.

"I don't care if the songs slows down, I'm gonna scream at you!"

The next three songs are all the oldest singles on the album; “We Are Young,” “Some Nights,” and “Carry On.” While I wasn’t instantly won over by “We Are Young” I am happy it gave them a foot in the door for them to release their better singles. “Some Nights” can be summed in on sentence already said by a critic, “This is how pop music should sound…” This song has everything from the pulse pounding beginning all the ways to the eccentric vocal auto-tune solo. “Carry On” is one of my favorite songs on the album as it’s just an upbeat song about leaving everything bad behind to go on to bigger and better things.

Sadly, the album is followed by arguably the worst song on the album “It Gets Better.” If the jarring electronic drums don’t get you to press next than it will be the odd vocal effect they put on Nate’s voice. Thankfully, this song does get better as it starts to pick up though sadly coming after 3 solid songs in a row it does come off as the weakest.

From there the album does a great job of creating of flow through its album taking the listener on a journey through the band’s inner thoughts throughout the past few years since “Aim and Ignite.” Major accolades should be given to Nate Reuss and Jeff Bhasker, the former, who puts his heart into every one of these songs and really leaving his soul there for all to see. If you want a great representation of this go check out the songs “Stars” and “Out On The Town” that really showcase just how much his life seems to have changed since even the inception of Fun(.). Jeff Bhasker of course really make this album amazing with every instrument fitting perfectly where it needs to, a variety of effects that shows just what pop music is capable of, and a really nice sense of rising action in all of the songs.

I could gush about this album all day and sadly for most of my close friends, they’ve already heard me go on and on about just how great this album is so if you have not heard this album yet, run to your nearest store (or Amazon) and get it as it’s a true marvel in indie rock/pop music. 

As always please like, share and comment below!

Buy it!: Some Nights, We Are Young, Carry On, Why Am I The One, All Alright, Stars, Out On The Town

Hear it!: Some Nights(intro), All Alone, One Foot,

Trash it!: It Gets Better

*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.
Sources:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Nights , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun_%28band%29

 

Are The Killers Really Born for Battle?

So this album review has been a long time coming. I have listened to this album multiple times trying to find the exact words for how exactly I feel about it. But, before we jump into their newest work let’s take a moment to look at my history with them. I loved The Killers debut album "Hot Fuss" when it debuted back in 2004, hell I did a cover of Smile Like You Mean It (which you can view here). Granted as they started evolving as a band I found myself slowly but surely jumping OFF the band wagon. "Sam's Town" only had a few songs that I liked while their next album "Sawdust" only found its way to my ears through the final piece of the murder trilogy Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf, which if you have not had a chance to listen it's cool to hear what inspired the name of the band. Eventually they released "Day & Age" which brought them back into the pop world with songs like Human and Spaceman but for internal reason the band called for a hiatus in January 2010. Brandon Flowers' pursued his own solo career releasing the album "Flamingo" to luke warm/positive reception. The band reassembled on stage in April 2011 playing in the International Lollapalooza Festival and returned to the studio in May 2011 recording for a year in hopes of releasing an album better than their earlier pursuits. And did they succeed? Well let's dive right into this album and find out!

To be up front and honest I dislike this album. I find it vapid, overproduced and a tad melodramatic. At least... that's how I originally felt. While this album does have its problem you can definitely tell the heart and care that was given when recording and producing it (some songs produced by the band themselves). So to start off I will say that the my biggest problem with this album is it seems to overdo a lot. For example, in the songs "Runaways," "Here With Me" and "Flesh and Bone," Brandon Flowers seems to devolve into wailing his words and even some "ooo's" and "Ah's." This sometimes can cause it too be too much to really handle and you may find yourself skipping to the next song which leads into my next problem.

 EVERY TIME A SONG ENDS THEY FEEL THE NEED TO RESTART THE MOMENTUM THEY GAIN. The worst example of this is after the stand out track "From Here On Out" that has a upbeat and very southern-type rock riff only to be followed by "Be Still" the slowest song on the album next to "Heart of a Girl." Though a good song in it's own right you may find this album to be less of an one you listen to in one sitting and instead an album you listen to in spurts whenever you crave a single song. Another standout bad song is "Deadlines and Commitments" which does not gain much momentum inside of it though it does find itself occasional subject to wailing through Brandon Flowers' which leaves the only track I feel you should trash on this album.

Probably the most standout tracks on the album are "From Here On Out," "Heart of a Girl," "The Way It Was." From Here On Out" as I stated stands out by being the only song to really kick start and takes what momentum the last song kicked up and run with it. Sadly, this song is the shortest on the album only clocking in at 2:27 but by the last chorus you'll find yourself singing along. "Heart of a Girl" is a slow song done right on this album. Starting with a very nice bass groove as the vocals croon about meeting a girl, staying up for hours listening to her insecurities and lamenting on the state of people today it is my favorite track on the album. While the song "The Way It Was" does a great job of riding that line of overdone and near perfection with Brandon Flowers' bringing his "A" game shows great control over his louder moments not allowing for the wailing you'll find in this album. Another song I strongly suggest for vocal/ballad lovers out there is "Be Still" as Brandon Flowers hits some notes in there I had no idea he had control over showing how far he has come since the day of "Hot Fuss."

In all I disliked this album to begin with but after a few in-depth listens I can say that this album features beautiful instrument spaces, some great standout vocal moments, and a return of The Killers that I'm hoping brings them forward in a positive direction as a band because some of the problems with this album (wailing vocals, shallow lyrics, over-production) could definitely cause an issue in the future. But here's to Battle Born maybe not the return we all thought we wanted but definitely and album worth checking out!

Next time, we'll take a look at a new artist who took America by storm with it's unique brand of rock in 2012. I'm of course speaking of Fun.'s Some Nights!

Buy it!:The Way It Was, A Matter of Time, Miss Atomic Bomb, Heart of a Girl, From Here On Out, Carry Me Home

Hear it!: Flesh and Bone, Runaways, Here With Me, The Rising Tide(hardcore), Be Still, Battle Born, Prize Fighter

Trash it!: Deadlines and Commitments

The Intro

        What to write, what to write... Aren't introductions just the hardest things to write? No matter how perfect it is, you find yourself second guessing it for the remainder of your writing. This is because, to be honest intros are the most important part of a type of writing as it expresses to the reader not only your writing style but also what the page they are on is about.
        Well, welcome to R0CK D3C0D3D, the blog where we review rock music starting anywhere from the 80's to today. Of course, this includes (but is not limited to); Albums, Singles, EP's, B-Sides, Demos, and Music Videos. I'm very excited to do this and have been imagining writing this blog for some time now. I am Th3 D3C0D3R and I'll be consistently updating this blog with reviews of some of the best and worst rock has to offer. Look out for the review of "Neighborhoods," by Blink 182 in the coming days.