The Afterman: Descension

The second part of Coheed and Cambria's two-part album, The Afterman, has arrived (or perhaps descended). And it is really good.

One of the biggest strengths of Ascension was how it so brilliantly wrapped so many different ideas and genres into one semicoherent package that thrilled with its constant variety and consistently managed to stay both fascinating and accessible. The exact same could be said of Descension, which is every bit the second half of the cycle. Virtually every song explores a different musical niche, from progressive metal ("Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant" or "Gravity's Union") to electropop/big band ("Number City") to indie rock ("Iron Fist"), effectively keeping the album from ever sounding dry or tired. By tightly juxtaposing all of these musical ideas, this 43-minute album manages to convey almost as much of a sense of musical exploration and adventure as an 80-minute Dream Theater album.

With an album this diverse, there isn't much to do except go through the individual tracks; this album is definitely more reductionist (enjoy each song on its own) than focused on connecting the songs into one musical line of thought.

"Pretelethal": Ethereal and spacey, beginning with strumming that almost sounds like a harp. Like the love child of Porcupine Tree and Muse, especially during the heavier, crashing chorus. A more fleshed-out prelude track than "The Hollow" was. The end has a callback to "Goodnight, Fair Lady" in the SFX.

"Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant": Features some of the heaviest-sounding acoustic guitarwork I've ever heard in the verses; this is C&C at their most Dream Theater-like, but with more mainstream melodic sensibilities instead of epic, rambling instrumental wankery.

"The Hard Sell": Single bait; more hard rock-like. Simpler than "Sentry the Defiant", but with a strong, anthemic chorus and some cool background guitar riffing touches. Claudio's vocal performance is passionate, alternately pleading and snarling; probably the best on the album.

"Number City": Pretty much electronic pop-rock music with "robotic" vocals and much more lighthearted rock touches than the last two songs. There are also synthesized horns, "city" sound effects, and other flourishes that continue to get crazier throughout. Definitely one of C&C's less conventional (and poppiest) songs; crazy-fun.

"Gravity's Union": Another progressive metal/hard rock track. Almost seven minutes in length, but doesn't try to cram in every musical idea and the kitchen sink like "Domino the Destitute" did, so it feels longer. Decent song, but slow-paced and not quite as exciting as the other heavy tracks.

"Away We Go": Possibly their most melodic work of pop-rock yet, kind of like a slower "Blood Red Summer" with some musical allusions to "Goodnight, Fair Lady" mixed in. It's very hard to feel angry or sad while listening to this.

"Iron Fist": Surprisingly, resembles indie rock, with a raw-sounding mix highly centered around the laid-back drumming and bass guitar.

"Dark Side of Me": Very poppy, somewhat hard alternative rock. Has more of a pop focus on the powerful chorus. Not terribly elaborate, but one of my favorites of the album.

"2's My Favorite 1": A fairly conventional, pop-rock song that draws the double album to a satisfying, major-key conclusion. After the main song fades out at around 3:30, there is a brief, quiet outro that calls back to "The Hollow".

Overall, The Afterman: Descension is, like its predecessor, an album of very strong, relatively distinct songs  with enough compositional and musical coherence to work together in interesting and enjoyable ways. Coheed and Cambria specializes in controlling a vast musical territory, connecting the genres we might identify as "progressive rock", "pop rock", "punk rock" under one grand design, and others and so blurring the lines between them, and The Afterman is their best example of this yet. Perhaps a bit less grandiose and more personal than Ascension, but in every way the conclusion it deserved. Both albums have my highest recommendation.