(4/6 for the album, 5/6 for the album with the book.)
Last October, The first half of this album was realased (Afterman: The Ascension) marking the final chapter in The Amory Wars. The Deluxe Edition included a gorgeous coffee table book, which contained the story and commentary from creator Claudio Sanchez. I waited to finish reading the book until I heard this album. I went back and read the second half of the book along side the album. So, I apologize if this review is a little less streamlined than my other reviews. I also apologize if my hard edge goes soft. There is so much about Coheed and Cambria’s music that hits me somewhere very personal.
Onward, then.
Musically, Afterman: The Descention does not hold up to Afterman: the Ascension. Coheed and Cambria’s famous layering is overused in places. However, this piecemeal sound is a reflection of the jarring events unfolding in Sirius Amory’s story. I'm still not personally a fan of how some songs sound Namely, "Iron fist," was far more upbeat than its lyrics called for. I first heard this song several years ago as a stripped down, raw, acoustic track. It was heart rending. I never envisioned this song as up-tempo and discordant as it came out.
I should add this: The album is absolutly brilliant and the story is beyond anything I could ever create. When I criticize this album,it is always as compared to their other albums. I would call it brilliant in any other band’s repertoire.
Even in it's all of its flaws, Descention still weaves in brilliant throwback to No World for Tomorrow and Second Stage Turbine Blade. Musically, it is deeply complex (wich is a double edged sword in this case) and richly layered.. In addition to the story elements, some of the discordance comes from Coheed and Cambria trying to redefine their sound.
Lyrically, Descention is pure art. Creator Claudio Sanchez may occasionally get caught up in cool sounds and musical effects, but lyrically he is consistently ingenious. Evocative both of the story itself and something raw and human the lyrics are simple and incredibly profound. I could rave on for ages about the brilliance in the analogy of the artist as mad scientist. The current of raw, yet surprisingly precise emotion in the lyrics are just outstanding.
Two tracks took me by complete surprise, not because they were particularly bad or good, but because they were so out of character for Coheed and Cambria. They are happy tracks-- one is an actual love song. In the armory wars stories, it is a very rare thing to see hopefulness, and “Away We Go” and “2 Is My Favorite 1” are saturated with hope and love, a rare thing in the Amory Wars saga.
On the whole Descention was a good, but clumsy album that I suspect is a set up for something bigger still.
And then there was the book.
Just like with Ascension, I sat down with the book and read along side the album, as it was meant to be. The art alone is poetic, when you combine it with the lyrics that go straight to your core and the little pieces of commentary Sanchez leaves at the bottom of the lyrics of each song. It is both brutal, and striking. I got about three quarters of the way through the book and Iron fist --the very song I had issues with-- started to play. I lost my ability to act as a detached critic, leaned my head in my hands, and cried. I will admit Sirius Amory's story hits far too close to home for my own liking, but even without the personal element it is an elegant and beautiful story. I was sobbing for the rest of the album despite the fact that both of the above mentioned hopeful and upbeat songs are in that last quarter. It is simultaneously polished and unspeakably raw. It felt like I was reading the notes on someone’s diary.
Amory Wars is not the war story it started out as. It is a love story with a demented, warped shell. Well played, Mr. Sanchez, well played.
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