The Afterman: Ascension

The Afterman: Ascension
Studio album by Coheed and Cambria
Released	October 9, 2012
Recorded	November 2011 – June 2012 Applehead Recording Woodstock, NY
Genre	Progressive rock[1] progressive metal[2]
Length	39:29
Label	Hundred Handed/Everything Evil
Producer	Coheed and Cambria Michael Birnbaum Chris Bittner
Coheed and Cambria chronology
Year of the Black Rainbow (2010) The Afterman: Ascension (2012) The Afterman: Descension (2013) Singles from The Afterman: Ascension "Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute" Released: August 28, 2012 "The Afterman" Released: November 16, 2012

The Afterman: Ascension is the sixth studio album by progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the first part of a double album, the second part of which is The Afterman: Descension. The band took seven months to record the albums between 2011 and 2012, released a live acoustic version of "Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant" (which appears on The Afterman: Descension) in February 2012, and announced a release date of October 9 later that year. The first single was "Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute", released in August 2012. It is the first Coheed and Cambria album since 2005's Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness to feature Josh Eppard on drums, and the first to feature Zach Cooper on bass. The album received mainly positive reviews.

The deluxe version of the album was released with a coffee-table book written by band member Claudio Sanchez and edited by Evil Ink Comics' Chondra Echert and Blaze James, intended to give a song-by-song experience of the concept album. The album follows the Amory Wars storyline, and concentrates on the character Sirius Amory.

Background and recording

Coheed and Cambria began recording the double album in November 2011,^[3] and had finished recording by June 2012.^[4] It is the first Coheed and Cambria album featuring Zach Cooper on bass, and the first to feature Josh Eppard on drums since Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness released in 2005.^[5]

In February, 2012, Coheed and Cambria singer/guitarist Claudio Sanchez released a self-shot acoustic rendition of a new song titled "Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant" via the band's official YouTube channel.^[6] The song later turned out to be on the second album, The Afterman: Descension.^[7]

On August 7, 2012, Rolling Stone revealed that the first single and music video from the album would be "Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute".^[8] Later the same day they played the song for the first time as part of their set in Tucson, Arizona.^[9] The single was released digitally on August 28, along with a music video.^[10] Two weeks before the album's release, the band premiered the studio version of the title track "The Afterman" on Rolling Stone.^[11]

The band released a music video for "The Afterman" on November 16.

Release

The album was released in both digital and physical formats on October 9, 2012; the second part was released on February 5, 2013.^[12] The album name and release date were announced on July 31, 2012 via a press release and a YouTube teaser video, featuring a man in a spaceship he refers to as "All Mother".^[13] Coheed and Cambria co-produced the album with Michael Birnbaum and Chris Bittner under the label Hundred Handed/Everything Evil and will be distributed by Fontana/INgrooves.^[14]

The deluxe version of the album will be released with a hardcover coffee-table book of the album's Amory Wars storyline, the concept all Coheed and Cambria's albums follow. The book is written by Sanchez. The double album will tell the story of Sirius Amory, the namesake of the concept, as he explores the energy source holding together the Keywork (the 78 worlds in which the Amory Wars is set) and finds that it is in fact a horrible afterlife for departed souls.^[8] The artwork for the book will be created by Heidi Taillefer and Nathan Spoor, and the book is expected to provide a "song-by-song" experience for the listener.^[14]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	74/100[15]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Artist Direct	[16]
The A.V. Club	B [17]
Consequence of Sound	[18]
Kerrang!	[19]
Mojo	[20]
Popmatters	8/10 [21]
Q	6/10 [22]
Rock Sound	8/10 [23]
Sputnikmusic	3.5/5 [24]

The album has received mainly positive reviews, gaining 74/100 on Metacritic from twelve reviews.^[15] Artist Direct singled out the album as the band's "best album to date".^[16] Allmusic criticized the album for being "a bit of a mess" due to the scale of its ambition,^[1] though it acknowledged that this could be forgiven as there is "so much here that works".^[1] Both The A.V. Club and Sputnikmusic rated the album as a step forward for the band.^[17][24]

Track listing

All songs written by Claudio Sanchez and arranged by Coheed and Cambria. Segues written and arranged by Claudio Sanchez and Josh Eppard.

^[25]

^[26]

Personnel

Coheed and Cambria

• Claudio Sanchez – vocals, guitar, electric piano, voice of Sirius Amory
• Travis Stever – guitar, backing vocals
• Josh Eppard – drums, percussion, keyboards, backing vocals
• Zach Cooper – bass, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• John Medeski – piano, clavinet, synthesizers
• Daniel Sedownick – percussion
• Karl Berger – orchestration
• Julianne Klopotic – violin
• Chern Hwei Fung – violin
• Nicole Federici – viola
• Tomas Ulrich – cello
• Chondra Sanchez – additional background vocals, voice of The All Mother
• Madeline Birnbaum – additional background vocals

Artwork

• Heidi Taillefer – cover art
• Nathan Spoor – interior art
• Bill Scoville – package design and additional graphics

Charts

The Afterman: Ascension debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200 on October 17, 2012.^[27] It also reached number 11 on the Canadian Albums Chart^[28] and number 5 on the UK Rock Albums Chart.^[29]

References