Coheed and Cambria Deftly Mix Light and Dark Backdrops

There are certain albums, upon reaching their conclusion, that have the ability to make you ask, "What just happened here?" You are so caught up in the secret language that you lose track of time, space, relatives, dinnertime, etc...Coheed and Cambria easily pull this out of body experience off with their new album "The Aftermath: Descension. There's a Jekyll/Hyde dynamic at play. The open cut "Prelethal" is merely an amuse bouche for the supercharged supper which lies ahead. Claudio Sanchez has power to spare in his vocal range. He isn't singing in the name of macho rock bombast. His is a probing gift which only gets better when his bandmates bring the game to higher and higher levels. I'd run out of superlatives quickly if I was to limit my analysis only to "The Hard Sell". Lyrically and musically this is a continuous right to the jaw. Being pummeled by super hard rock never felt so satisfying. I'm in awe of tell it like it is lyrics such as: "Selling out to be in" and: "Not enough cool for everyone. Travis Stever's guitar's got some major league growl. Josh Eppard serves up epic drumming to match the lethal weight of Claudio's words. It's songs like this one that get me to Amazon.com really fast so I can snatch this kind of material up for repeated listening. The impression it leaves on my cranium is one of those "you had to be there" kinds of one for the books experiences. The song is a wicked slap in the face to anyone without the cojones needed to stand up for their core values. "Number City" has madness in the urban downtown sector scrawled all over it. This landscape has Zach Cooper's slick bass to thank for lending it a nastiness that is part and parcel to the hullabaloo of big city dwelling. The bass sounds as good as fresh brewed coffee smells. "Gravity's Union" keeps this album blasting ahead in the Hyde persona. All players have their marksmanship cranked up to eleven. Losing a huge swath of the electricity at the 4:50 mark takes what's already a rock tour-de-force and makes you remind yourself that, yes, this is certainly an out of body trek you've made. Past the midway point of the album Hyde leaves the building and a tranquil Jekyll assumes control. The rest of the tracks aren't quite so conflicted. "Away We Go" is downright sun rays and puppy dogs. The "beautiful undertow" referred to doesn't sound scary at all. In fact regardless of which sex you are you'd definitely have reason to grab Claudio's hand and trust his benevolent instincts. "Iron Fist" the title is far more threatening than "Iron Fist" the finished tune. "God damn" gets uttered a bit too much but, even that, in the context of the whole rip roaring riff ride is nowhere near a liability. They managed to make a swear word sound mellifluous. The great ones know how, I suppose. There's enough flavor to the song that your appetite is appeased. None of the heavy handedness hard rock/heavy metal has a occasionally jocular reputation for ladling on. "Dark Side of Me" is sharp at all the right angles. Claudio's torment meshes neatly with the swirl of theatrics his bandmates conspire to pull off. "2's My Favorite 1" reintroduces the familiar lover's reconfiguration of anatomy, namely the two hearts beating as one. This closing wave of slightly sweetened rock goodness sends "The Aftermath: Descension out on a spangly note. However it may also leave you breathless at how Claudio could summon up the strength to go from heart on the sleeve dripping wounds to "let's race towards the great beyond and see what wonders await". It's just brilliant. I'm a music fanatic for reasons like this. It's time ideally spent every time. Never a heavy sigh to be conveyed. Coheed and Cambria again demonstrate why culling inspiration from The Amory Wars Claudio's ambitious foray into creative writing, yields an embarrassingly rich payoff.