Jobie Reviews Music 43: The Afterman: Descension (album) by Coheed and Cambria

The Afterman: Descension is a 2013 progressive metal album by the band Coheed and Cambria. The album has 9 tracks, making 43 minutes of music. This album is the sequel to The Afterman: Ascension (see Jobie Reviews Music 41 for more information on that album’s story), following Sirius Amory right after the events of The Afterman: Ascension.

This album focuses on what happens to Sirius after the events of The Afterman: Descension, chronicling what his return to Earth is like after a little over a year of being absent. He deals with the many issues faced by his return, including the complication of the relationship with his wife and the people closest to him. There’s a lot more to the story than this, but I don’t want to spoil it. Give the story a read on Genius if you want to know more.

Besides the comparatively better story than The Afterman: Ascension (though that album still had a great story to it), the tracks are also better on this album. Even though The Afterman: Ascension had lots of great tracks, this one has more. Some of my favorites have to be “Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant”, “The Hard Sell”, and “Gravity’s Union”.

On this album, Coheed and Cambria manage to replicate the amazing sound that they had on The Afterman: Ascension, bringing back the epic guitar melodies which made that album great. Here they’re even better, which I honestly didn’t know was possible. Coheed and Cambria perfect the lyrics, story, and sound in this album, making the tracks in this album being able to stand alone even without the album’s story in mind.

While listening to this album, I was absolutely engrossed in it. I wanted to know what happened next, and what amazing soundwaves were going to be blasting through my headset at any given moment. Coheed and Cambria deliver on the promise of an interesting story throughout the entirety of the 43 minute runtime - all in 9 tracks as well!

Overall, this is a must-listen for anyone who likes Coheed and Cambria, or liked The Afterman: Ascension. I would go as far as to say that if you listened to The Afterman: Ascension, and haven’t also listened to this album, you’re missing out on something you’re near guaranteed to love.

Overall rating:

9.5/10

LINK TO ALBUM:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1gPS9pJjoPcNqwIGGvuhQw?si=-y8rHwsDSMCq7JRJ4mp35g