The Afterman: Ascension Explicit Lyrics

I'm gonna do a track by track review, then sum it up.The Hollow - A pretty cool instrumental/dialogue track, standard opening track idea for Coheed. I like it a lot better than One, but SSTB still takes the cake for best opening theme-track.Domino The Destitute - This is among the best Coheed songs ever written. The instrumentation is superb, and carries the vocal melodies(which are some of my favorite ever) perfectly. There's a lot of epic peaks in it, as well as great drumming that ties the parts together very well. Great track, REALLY well writtenThe Afterman - A huge departure from other Coheed songs, but not a scary change. The song is really quiet and light, and I really enjoy the build into the big distorted guitar section. There are a lot of really nice strings on it too, which sound great and provide lots of texture. A really nice poppy tune, all-in-all.Mothers of Men - This one gives me a GAIBS4 Vol:1 vibe, with the really riff-driven guitar parts. The vocal harmonies throughout the tune really make the song. The lyrics are also very interesting, and the use of a female vocalist between the chorus and second verse was a really cool dynamic. The bridge shows Claudio's ability as a vocalist to go from sweet to angry and aggressive in a matter of seconds and make it fit within a song.Goodnight Fair Lady - "Faint of The Suffering" This would be the vibe I get. I really enjoy this song, and it comes off as very well written pop-rock, with great vocal melodies and guitars all over it. The song is densely harmonized(also not always in thirds), which is something I've always thought was really cool about Coheed songs. The bridge is perfect. I love it's harmonies, and epic build. The outro is also great, although Claudio's main vocal part is mixed a bit low for me(I didn't even know that it was there at first, but it's well worth figuring out).Holly Wood The Cracked - Lyrically, this is a pretty weak song. But, the music more than makes up for it. It's really interesting and dissonant. When the song gets to the first bridge, there's a lot of background vocals that sound amazing, and the "Poor Hollywood" section is absolutely killer. A great Claudio-belting line. A really cool and interesting song, despite the weak lyrics.Vic The Butcher - Very progressive, also not HUGELY lyrically strong, but not bad. Very aggressive. Really cool instrumentation, and carries the story of the song really well. Claudio uses lots of different voices on this one, which is interesting. A very impressive solo, which I think was performed by Travis, is on here. Very anthemic in the "Hang your secrets" part of the chorus. I can hear fans chanting it at a concert.Evagria The Faithful - An experiment gone horribly right. This song is incredibly interesting. There is more texture than I would have ever expected from a coheed track. It creates quite a trippy atmosphere. The dynamics in it are also fantastic, and the song really grows on you. It's a really killer track.Subtraction - This is easily my favorite acoustic song Coheed has done. It's absolutely beautiful. There's a harmony in the chorus with another member in the band, and the two voices blend beautifully. I really feel the emotion Claudio pours out in this song. It's lyrics are also deep and touching. It's one of my favorite songs on the record.This is another SOLID Coheed record. I am not in the least disappointed. I love all the songs on it. I definitely recommend it to any music fan.

To put ASCENSION into perspective, perhaps it helps to recall the early days of Coheed's major-label career. They had quite a streak going from SECOND STAGE TURBINE BLADE to GOOD APOLLO: VOL 1, releasing three incredible records in the span of as many years. It's even more remarkable when you consider how much of an about-face they did on GA:V1 in terms of their core sound, shifting abruptly and inexplicably from punk to prog-metal, yet still making it work just as well. Those three records still stand as some of my favorite of the post-millennial era. Unfortunately, it all came off the rails with NO WORLD FOR TOMORROW, whose unapologetic 80s metal cheese I still find unlistenable to this day. YEAR OF THE BLACK RAINBOW was only modestly better, buoyed up from the abyss by more experimental tracks like "The Broken" and "Guns of Summer."With seven years having now elapsed since the last C&C record I cared for, the bar for this album is not at its most lofty, at least in my eyes. So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when the first single, "Domino the Destitute," dropped back in August. Without a doubt their finest work since 2005, this track is arguably worth the price of admission all on its own, paying homage to the stellar "Willing Wells" series from GA:V1. It's an epic eight-minute journey of excess in every category -- melody, vocals, lyrics, mood and time changes -- which made the early records so addictive.The choice of "Domino" as a lead single was not without its price, though. To be honest, the rest of the album kind of pales in comparison. Don't get me wrong; there aren't any totally skippable throwaway tracks to be found. The title track works nicely as a softer number, "Holly Wood the Cracked" fuses a lot of C&C's styles over the years into an explosive three minutes, and you have to love the experimentation and unconventional vibe (subtly channeling 30 Seconds to Mars' self-titled?) of "Evagria the Faithful" -- even if the cheese quota is breached about 2/3 in. Others, like "Mothers of Men," "Goodnight My Fair Lady," and "Vic the Butcher," start to fall back into that 80s anthem territory of their more recent (and mediocre) work. I'd be lying if I said I haven't enjoyed jamming them in the car the past couple weeks, but they just don't have the depth or repeat value of something like "Welcome Home" or "The Writing Writer."The upshot is that we only have a few months before a new batch of songs is unleashed. My guess is that between the two volumes, we'll amass about one album's worth of material deserving of the C&C legacy. Ideal? Hardly. But after reaching the brink of hopelessness on this band's future not so long ago, I'll take it!4.0 stars

This is such an excellant album. This is the first part of the Afterman and in my personal opinion has one of the best storylines in the whole Amory Wars arc.If you're a true Coheed fan then you should already own this.A personal tip from me is I got this on standard Vinyl too, which sounds alot warmer than the CD, and from Amazon it comes in Orange from the V2 Coop label.Also you should buy Afterman: Descension. Both albums complement each other, and feels like you're truly immersed in the story when played after each other.I wish I could give this more than 5 stars.

Basically, if you like any or all of the previous Coheed and Cambria albums you'll like this. Same with Afterman descension, which is like part 2 of this album. Good stuff!

Incredible (Part 1) Album by an incredibly consistent band. The vinyl sounds wonderful and includes the album on CD. Go and buy Descension as well!!

The record came as described, new and unopened. However, when the record arrived it had a scratch on side B that is in the middle third of the first song that causes a constant popping throughout that section. This may or not be the fault of this seller because other wise the service was top notch.

This is an ok recording but is totally blown away by Descension.