So it has been completed. The epic double album New York’s prog rockers have been hyping up has now been officially finished. “The Afterman: Descension” hit stores February 5, 2013 and does everything but fail to live up to the hype that its been getting. Since Coheed albums are difficult to really review as a whole I’ll do a track by track like I did with “Ascension”.
1. Pretelethal – An opener track in the vein of 2007’s “The Reaping”. It comes as a full band song, beginning with serene acoustic guitars and Claudio’s ghostly falsetto vocals. It really accentuates the pain Sirius Amory is feeling at this point in the story and really shows that this album is going to hit you hard with the painful, but beautiful songwriting and delivery. 9/10
2. Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant – This song was released on youtube in acoustic form well before “Ascension” was even announced and really stur up the fans. It instantly garnered positive reviews and really hit me hard about the situation with their ex bass player. The song starts out similar to “Domino the Destitute” from the previous album but in my honest opinion hits a little harder on how hurt Claudio and Travis were about Mic’s leaving and continues the hard hitting start every Coheed album has had. Fantastic vocals and musicianship Travis’ leads are brilliant and Josh never fails to impress on the drums. 10/10
3. The Hard Sell – This was released a month or so before the album along with the first single “Dark Side of Me” and I fell in love with this song instantly. It continues the hard-hitting nature this album really started with “Sentry” and is a better third track than the previous album’s. The chorus is catchy as anything you’ve ever heard, and the guitar work is fantastic and even catchier. Its supposed to be based around how Coheed’s manager likes to troll Claudio about writing more radio friendly songs, which then gets him to write some really awesome angry song thats even better than anything the radio could have. Great track. 9.5/10
4. Number City – Okay so imagine if an epic hard rock/prog rock album suddenly turned into a Peter Gabriel cover album? Well thats what happens with this track. It’s so damn groovey and is my personal favorite on this album. So different from anything they’ve ever done and yet still so Coheed! The chrous “Honey release my heart, do not let me go” got stuck in my head instantly and the outro with the gang vocals counting the beat was so awesome. The little breakdown where the music stopped really added to the weird factor on this one but its still the grooviest track they’ve ever done! 11/10
5. Gravity’s Union – Now here’s where we get into the classic side of Coheed. This sort of heavy but catchy side that shifts to clean quiet bridges and builds the intensity throughout the song and breaks out all over itself in a total array of epicness in the final chorus. Chanting, big choruses, distorted guitars, clean guitars, raspy and melodic vocals, this song feels very much like if “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3” and “The Broken” meshed together and made something so magical it could only be beaten by Chuck Norris’ fists themselves. 10/10
6. Away We Go – I feel like I and many of you have heard songs with this sort of feel. But I feel like Coheed had to have a song like this eventually. Its poppy, but really feels like a Coheed love tune. It really breaks away from the heat of the first half of the album and sort of begins the softer poppier edge to the album, and gets stuck in your head quick. Catchy riffs and melodies, the bass in this song is wonderful as Zach Cooper always is. 9/10
7. Iron Fist – One of the only songs everyone knew was written while both Chris and Mic were still in the band, and the song has really changed since we first heard acoustic demos of it some two years ago. It really has this nice acoustic/electro ballad feel with the beauty and simplicity in the lyrics with the soft instrumentals that really hit hard in your heart as you can feel and see what Claudio is singing. The bridge is fantastic and the song has really progressed. I love this version so much more than the original demo versions. 9.5/10
8. Dark Side of Me – The album’s first single and probably the one song I didn’t love at first. While I could definitely tell why they chose it as the single (it’s chorus is so catchy and radio friendly, and reminiscent of “The Broken”‘s chorus) but I was disappointed with them not choosing “Sentry” or “Hard Sell”. It was premiered live on Conan and thats when I found the song’s beauty. You know how there’s a song you dont like until you hear it preformed live or at least in a more raw fashion? Well thats what this song is for me. It has slowly become a favorite for me and is one of the most solid singles Coheed has released. 9/10
9. 2’s My Favorite 1 – my favorite song next to “Number City” on this album. This is such a fantastic love song with one of my favorite choruses ever written. This song will be played at my future wedding (provided I ever have one) and Ill rock out hard to it. Great piano work to match the fantastic guitars, but the drums in this song makes it for me. Josh really makes this songs’ slightly above average guitar work sound more complicated and beautiful. This song really closes off the album well and makes you feel like you’ve just made it home after a very long trip, much like Sirius Amory coming home to his wife and realizing that she is all he needs and finding comfort in their love. Brilliant way to close this epic double album, and a much better closing song than Subtraction! 10.5/10
Overall this album is a little stronger than its part 1 and really helps to partner it and complete one hell of an epic double album full of grade A material. Listen to both Ascension and Descension to get the full effect of The Afterman though. Dont listen to them as seperate albums, because to fully feel complete you need to listen to it as a whole. Its well worth the hour and a half listen time. I give Descension in itself however, a 9.5/10 and thats only because it doesnt feel complete unless precedented by Ascension to me.
Buy Descension on iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/afterman-descension-deluxe/id585827464
Coheed’s Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/coheedandcambria?fref=ts
Website – http://coheedandcambria.com
The Funk Yard 