Album Review: Coheed and Cambria, The Afterman: The Ascension

05 October 2012

by Poppy Reid

When Coheed and Cambria announced their sixth release would be a double concept album following an astronomer named Sirius Armory through an alternate universe called Heaven’s Fence (a concept picked up by none other than Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson to develop into a live-action feature film) and that its deluxe edition would include a hardcover coffee table book, not one of their zealots flinched.

The New York quartet have been waxing-existentialist and shaping their ever-developing sci-fi tetralogy The Armory Wars - about two protagonists, Coheed and Cambria - since 1995. As for the accompanying tome, well this isn’t the first time the band have gone that extra mile for the project; 2003’s In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3 was released alongside a graphic novel (which this year reached #4 on the New York Times Bestsellers list), and 2010’s Year Of The Black Rainbow was offered with a novel.

Touted “the most honest record I’ve ever written” by frontman and creative linchpin Claudio Sanchez, The Afterman’s integrity will be told in two parts, the first The Afterman: The Ascension is out later this month before second instalment The Afterman: The Descension is out February next year. Self-financed and honed in Sanchez’s basement, The Afterman… marks the return of drummer Josh Eppard, who left in 2006, but sees the band journey into new territory with their sound. While Coheed and Cambria have always genre-crossed between their hardcore roots, prog-rock, soul and even intelligent pop on some tracks, The Afterman… is a different dimension altogether.

From the piano-driven opening in The Hollow, accompanied only by three lines of dialogue percolating extraterrestrial ambience, and the multi-pronged attack of Key Entity Extraction | Domino The Destitute where Sanchez wails thick and effervescent about Sirius Armory’s expedition, (punctuated with snippets of what sounds like sport commentary), The Afterman: Ascension pays homage to long-time fans with nods to past classics while stepping in a different direction and forging a whole new legacy.

The title track is where Sanchez goes off the trail to make exceptional exceptions, instead of sticking to his preconceived ideals which consistently fall in line with the tetralogy’s narrative arc, he has used his wife’s personal story of her friend’s death (which she found out through Facebook) and tells it from her perspective. From the darling opening plucks, which remain a subdued constant, to the slow building guitars and Sanchez’ growling whisper, The Afterman was an obvious choice for lead single, fans will be grateful the rest of the record is exempt of any carbon copies, given its charm.

Elsewhere, the flushes in future-scape Goodnight Fair Lady - where Sanchez’ drifting falsetto floats alongside casual, syncopated Thin Lizzy-esque drumming, and the anthemic rise of Mothers Of Men - the cinematic offering where guitars and vocals conduct a dialogue - this release allows the listener to hear and feel what the protagonists are going through, more than ever before.

Whether you want to lose yourself in the cryptic storyline that surrounds this opus, or you simply like to take each record at face value, Coheed and Cambria have created a post-apocalyptic dream that can’t be ignored, no matter how fleeting the experience.

The Afterman: The Ascension is out now.