Marketing is really the only reason (imo) that the album was broken into 2. It was a very smart play because it kept them in the news cycle for almost a full 6 months, but it was conceived as one whole album with 2 acts. Unlike Good Apollo 1 and 2 (it's easy to forget NWFT is still Good Apollo 2) which are completely separate albums written years apart. I honestly like both parts equally. Ascension from start to Evagria is some of their best stuff since IKS for me. Adding back in the "coheed melody" was a refreshing touch and I loved the in between song interludes. I just, for some reason, keep forgetting Subtraction is on that album. I really wish they had replaced it with The Homecoming or something else. Descension has the best ending of all their albums narratively with 2's My Favorite 1 being a song I can absolutely picture playing over closing credits to a movie. And the set of Number City to Away We Go is really great. Pretalethal and Iron Fist are songs that I don't care that much for and end up getting skipped more often than not, so that drags it down a smidge. I also kinda like the remix of Dark Side of Me more as a song, but I can admit that the album version fits better.
I do feel that there could have been trimming to make one full Afterman album. I’d have removed: Goodnight Fair Lady, Hollywood, Away We Go.
I finished both GA1 and NWFT. I feel the same way about GA1 as I did five years ago. I think it's a good album, but a good portion of the album just flies by me. Welcome Home still slaps, Ten Speed and The Suffering are still among their best songs, and The Willing Well songs still rule. The rest didn't really stick with besides The Writing Writer and Wake Up. NWFT really surprised me. I used to not like this album much at all because of the lack of Josh and because I wrote it off as a lot of rock/metal wankery, but this is much better than I made it out to be. The title track, Mother Superior, G&G, and The End Complete (the song) are my favorites on the album. Feathers and The Running Free really soar. Radio Bye Bye is also much better than I used to think. I think Chris wrote great drum parts and Taylor executed them seamlessly. This may very well be a top 3 Coheed album for me. Vastly underrated. Now onto YOTBR
I think Descension is the better collection of songs, but for me, they pop so much more when you have Ascension as the lead in. I don’t often have that much time, and therefore play Descension slightly more than Ascension, but my preferred way is to listen to it as one collection of songs.
Wrapped up YOTBR and I actually like this album. Hot take, but I think it's pretty good and better than people give it credit for. Yes, the production is not good and the drums get lost at times (Guns Of Summer), and I think In The Flame Of Error and When Skeletons Live are two of the weakest songs in their discography, but I think this album still has some greats. I love Here We Are Juggernaut, Far, and World Of Lines. I think those songs accomplish what the band set out to do with this album. I think The Broken is a good song and I will always defend Made Out Of Nothing. I even really like The Black Rainbow as a closer. I do think this album is their weakest of all the ones I'm familiar with, but I do think it's still pretty good.
The Afterman albums are still so great. I slightly prefer Descension over Ascension. I think it flows better and I think Holly Wood is the only weak song in the entire project. I feel like these albums merge the sounds of IKS and NWFT to a success. Their both great and concise. I'd say some of the band's best songs are on this double album: Domino, Vic, Evagria, Sentry, Number City, Gravity's Union, 2's My Favorite 1 are all nothing short of fantastic. Goodnight, Fair Lady and Dark Side Of Me are other great cuts. Also wanna shout out and defend Iron Fist. I do prefer it's acoustic arrangement, but I think it still works in a full band setting. I'm bummed I won't be able to get to The Color Before The Sun tonight as that's the one I know the least besides Here To Mars and Atlas, but here's my album ranking as it stands now: IKS The Afterman(s) NWFT SSTB GA1 YOTBR
i like descension more by just a bit, it definitely flows better and the darker mood of the songs really gets me. if it ended with a longer/more epic song, it would be a perfect album to me. ascension is great though, i really enjoy listening to them combined
Made out of nothing is probably my least favorite coheed song, haha. I hate the delivery in the verses. Same with when skeletons live. I did like YOTBR and NWFT more than I thought I would on my recent discog listen. Broken, juggernaut, far, world of lines, and in the flame of error are all really, really good. NWFT slaps front to back and i think it’s honestly my 3rd favorite behind IKS and GA. RERANKING! IKS GA NWFT A:D SSTB A:A YOTBR TCBTS TCBTS just felt... too safe. Also it felt like outside of Atlas, Claudio never just lets loose. He sounds like he’s singing too soft.
I listened to color today I think it's one of their most impressive song writing wise. Really really great pop rock, just intensely catchy front to back
They set out to make a catchy pop-rock album and killed it in that aspect. Took elements out of all their previous pop-rock singles and improved on them. And even then there’s still some songs that keep that progressive Coheed flair that keeps them experimenting. I’m really excited for the new album and see what direction they go in with them delving back into the Amory Wars.
Oh, and for the afterman one album, I would cut out Holly Wood, Subtraction, and Iron Fist, but that’s it. All the others belong IMO. I know a lot of you will disagree with that, but I just prefer quiet, one guitar acoustic songs like ghost (I absolutely adore that one) to the electronic elements they added into those songs. Holly Wood is... okay. The bridge and chorus are cool but the verses are bad and the transition between it all isn’t great.
Also it sounds like there’s a tone of harshness in some of my comments, but keep in mind Coheed are my clear cut number 1 favorite band ever. I bought IKS as a 13 year old in 2004 and I’ve been hooked ever since, buying each subsequent album on release day. I adore the band and love every release, I just have fun going over each release with a fine toothed comb.
The songwriting in Coheed has always been what's elevated them above their contemporary proggy bands that never got quite as big. They could just never write a fuckin pop song like Coheed can and that's what makes them so great
Just finished The Color Before The Sun and my discography run through. This album is still my least favorite. I love Atlas and there are some other good ones on here (Colors, Here To Mars, YGSK, PTTM), but a lot of this doesn't stick with me. I get that they really wanted to highlight their more alt/pop rock style on this album, but I guess I like the balance between that sound and their prog/metal sound more. Still, this album is pretty alright, just not my cup of tea I guess. Then I again, I seem to like YOTBR more than many so different strokes for different folks
I like that Here To Mars references Burning Star IV, thats a cute little easter egg TCBTS is MUCH better on a revisit. its just catchy hook after catchy hook but it still has some variety and flair to it to keep it from getting bland or sounding one-note. theres not a thing I would change about either Afterman albums and the only real knock i can give them is that they just arent quite as good as those first 3 albums. YOTBR is the only one that doesnt really do much for me aside from the bangers that it has. that production just kills the album