Album Review: The Afterman: Ascension - Coheed and Cambria

For Fans Of: Ummmm, Awesome Instrumentals and Vocals? They're too unique to compare to anyone popular
Genre: Progressive Rock, Alternative Rock, New Prog, Post-Hardcore
Coheed and Cambria's Top Tracks: Welcome Home, The Suffering, Feather, Gravemakers & Gunslingers, Apollo I: The Writing Writer, Key Entity Extraction I: Domino The Destitute

For fans of sci-fi prog rock epics with geeky aspiration and spontaneous intricacy, or just fans of talented rock artists, you should definitely give Coheed and Cambria's new album a try. Many would agree that their 2010 album, Year of the Black Rainbow, was a disappointing effort, but this first part of a double album is far from a disaster. On the contrary, The Afterman: Ascension is a successful exploration of the band's variety of talents.

Lead singer Sanchez's voice, usually a force to be reckoned with, is tamed down to a soft, hazy vocal at times, along with impressive acoustic guitar work and an almost Owl City-sounding background melody (in case I offended any fans, I'm not comparing Coheed to Owl City). But this is no cause for concern, there are just as many mouth-watering guitar licks, pounding drums, and whaling vocals as you'd expect in any Coheed and Cambria album.

The story-telling ability of Coheed revealed a new trait, a very apparent fact in the album-titled track, with emotion and specificity unmatched by the rest of their discography. The story-telling itself has been reduced, but the songs speak to listeners with new intimacy and understanding. "Key Entity Extraction II: Hollywood The Cracked" and "Subtraction" may seem a little off character for these prog rock veterans but "Mothers of Men" and "Key Entity Extraction III: Vic The Butcher" truly expose the spirit of Coheed and Cambria's progressive style. And my personal favorite, "Key Entity Extraction I: Domino The Destitute", is as heavy and catchy as any track in their discography.

The Afterman: Ascension is an impressive rock album and a great response to their disappointing 2010 release. And fans of this new album will be happy to see its sequel released in February, what I hope will be an equally impassioned and momentous release.

Rating: 8/10 Great