''The Afterman: Descension'' is the seventh studio album by American

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Coheed and Cambria Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. It consists of Claudio Sanchez (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Travis Stever (guitars, vocals), Josh Eppard (drums, keyboards, backing vocals), and Za ...

. It is the second part of a

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording ...

, the first part of which is '' The Afterman: Ascension''. The band took seven months to record the albums between 2011 and 2012, and announced a February 5, 2013 release date. The deluxe version of the album was released with a coffee-table book co-written by band member

Claudio Sanchez Claudio Paul Sanchez III (born March 12, 1978)Sanchez, Claudio: "The Amory Wars Sketchbook", page 30. Evil Ink, 2007. is an American musician and writer best known for being the lead singer, guitarist and primary lyricist for the progressive roc ...

and writer

Peter David Peter Allen David (September 23, 1956 – May 24, 2025), often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games.Buxton, Marc (March 29, 2014)"From 'Future Imperfect' to '2099': Peter David's Grea ...

, giving a song-by-song experience of the

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

. The album is a prequel to the '' Amory Wars'' storyline, and concentrates on the character Sirius Amory.

Background and recording

Coheed and Cambria began recording the

in November 2011, and had finished recording by June 2012. "Iron Fist" was debuted in 2010. The song was also featured in the acoustic set during their "Neverender: Second Stage Turbine Blade" dates in 2011. In February, 2012, Coheed and Cambria singer/guitarist

released a self-shot acoustic rendition of a new song titled "Sentry the Defiant" (later retitled "Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry The Defiant") via the band's official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel.

Release

The album was released in both digital and physical formats on February 5, 2013; the first part ('' The Afterman: Ascension'') was released on 9 October 2012. The album name and release date were announced on July 31, 2012 via a press release and a

teaser video, featuring a man in a spaceship speaking to an AI he refers to as "All Mother". 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 Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone * Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi ...

/ INgrooves. The deluxe version of the album was released with a hardcover coffee-table book of the album's Amory Wars storyline, the concept all Coheed and Cambria's albums follow (with the exception of 2015's

The Color Before the Sun ''The Color Before the Sun'' is the eighth studio album by American progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria. Following the conceptual double album, '' The Afterman: Ascension'' and '' Descension'', released in 2012 and 2013 respectively, ''The C ...

). The book is co-written by Sanchez and writer

, who worked together on the book which accompanied Coheed and Cambria's previous album, '' Year of the Black Rainbow''. The double album tells 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. The artwork for the book was created by Heidi Taillefer and

Nathan Spoor Nathan Spoor is an American artist, writer, and art curator. He is known for his acrylic paintings and the popularization of the Suggestivism art movement. Early career Spoor graduated from Abilene Christian University with a Bachelor of Fine ...

, and the book provides a "song-by-song" experience for the listener. The song "The Hard Sell" was released on December 18, 2012 as part of

Guitar Center Guitar Center, Inc. is an American musical instrument retailer chain headquartered in Westlake Village, California. It operates 304 locations and is the largest company of its kind in the United States. The company oversees several subsidia ...

's Fresh Cuts Vol. 8 compilation CD. A lyric video of the song was later put on the band's official YouTube channel. "Dark Side of Me" was later released on January 14, 2013, along with a lyric video, on the band's Facebook page. The band also played the song on the January 21 episode of '' Conan''. Similarly, "Number City" was released exclusively on NME.com on January 30, 2013, and "Iron Fist" was released on the official Coheed and Cambria Tumblr Account the following day.

Reception

Critical

The album was met with generally positive reviews. It has received 4/5 ratings from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...

'', ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' and

musicOMH ''MusicOMH'' (stylized as ''musicOMH'') is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History ''MusicOMH'' was founded an ...

. The overall rating on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

is 75/100.

Commercial

''The Afterman: Descension'' debuted at No. 9 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart on its release, selling around 41,000 copies in the United States in its first week. It also debuted at No. 3 on both the ''Billboards

Top Rock Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

and

Alternative Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

charts. The album has sold 91,600 copies in the United States as of October 2015. The album debuted at number 64 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and number 3 on the UK Rock Albums Chart.

Track listing

Personnel

Coheed and Cambria

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

, voice of Sirius Amory *

Travis Stever Travis Stever (born November 25, 1978) is an American musician who is best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria. Coheed and Cambria Travis Stever is a founding member of Coheed and Cambria. The ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of pla ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Josh Eppard Josh Eric Eppard (born December 6, 1979) is an American musician from Kingston, New York and the drummer for progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria. He has worked as a solo rapper under the name Weerd Science and was the drummer for supergro ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, keyboards,

*Zach Cooper –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Additional musicians

John Medeski Anthony John Medeski (born June 28, 1965) is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood. He plays the acoustic piano ...

–

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

*Daniel Sedownick – percussion *Steve Bernstein –

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * Horns (novel), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...

*Stan Harisson – horns *Dan Levine – horns * Chondra Sanchez – additional background vocals, voice of The All Mother *Maggie Bryngelson – additional background vocals

Artwork

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

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afterman: Ascension, The 2013 albums Coheed and Cambria albums The Amory Wars Science fiction concept albums Sequel albums