The first half of another mind-boggling Amory Wars concept piece, The Afterman: Ascension focuses on the further adventures of the story’s titular hero Sirius Amory, and his discovery that the spectral glue holding the 78 worlds of ‘The Keywork’ together is actually populated by the souls of the dead.
So no, Coheed haven’t suddenly started writing songs about girls and drunken nights out. Neither have they strayed too far from their idiosyncratic prog-tinged rock formula, but while 2010’s Year Of The Black Rainbow was likeable rather than truly thrilling, the band’s sixth full-length sees them return to peak form, both in terms of Claudio Sanchez’s songwriting and the dizzying dynamics that made them such a unique proposition in the first place.
Key Entity Extraction I: Domino The Destitute is a typically bombastic throwing open of the sonic gates, there is urgency and menace behind the restless thud of Mothers Of Men and Goodnight Fair Lady is a sublime exercise in Thin Lizzy worship. The remaining songs are every bit as sharp, gripping and laden with surprises and the whole thing flows beautifully. A guitar-driven page-turner with soul, style and the irresistible fizz of madness.
