Afterdusk Raises The Bar With New Single “COMASTATE”
- Ann Schlottman
- 17 hours ago
- 6 min read
I love music. I know that's a simple statement, but it’s true. I love all different kinds of music. I listen to mostly current hard rock and modern metal; post hardcore, pop punk, EMO, alternative metal, heavy pop. I dabble in country and pop, and I’ve been trying to get into death metal lately to expand my horizons. Most people who know my music tastes know that my favorite genre is metalcore. I love the combination of clean and hard vocals along with the heavy music, especially the breakdowns.
One of my favorite metalcore bands for the last few years has been Afterdusk. I remember one of my Facebook friends I made through our love of music, Athena, was a big fan of the band and would go to see their shows. Her posting about Afterdusk was definitely one of the things that led me to them.
When I heard Afterdusk’s amazing music and saw their great videos, I thought they were just awesome and quickly became a fan. This band is tremendous on so many levels. I’ve been hoping for a while that I’d get to write about them, and finally, our stars aligned and we hooked up for this piece. I’m honored to share their story!
Afterdusk is from Mobile, Alabama. Band members include: Matt Boykin (vocals); Jeff Griffin (drums); Chris Rivera (guitar/vocals); and Corey McLeod (bass). Matt answered my questions for this story, and gave me some great background on Afterdusk.
The band got started behind the scenes sometime in 2020 and officially debuted to the public in October 2021 with their first single, “Become Of Me”.
The members of Afterdusk got connected to each other in 2016. Chris, Jeff, and Corey were in a three-piece band called Outlast The End, and Matt was in a band called Falling For Insanity. The bands did a show together and they became really good friends. The two bands would actually link up and play together from 2016 to 2018.
Around that time, members of Matt’s band one-by-one started moving on in life to other endeavors like new jobs or college. Eventually, each member of Outlast The End joined Falling For Insanity as their replacements.
For a while both bands kept going, but eventually they decided to call it quits with “OTE” and continue as “FFI”. They met their producer, Jonathan Dolese of KonKrete Studios, in 2020, and they started recording the songs “Unholy Ghosts”, “stateofmind//stateofmine”, and “Dreamscapes”. Those were the tracks that made them decide to rebrand as a new band altogether, and shortly after that they changed their name to Afterdusk. So technically, the current band members were all part of the original lineup when Afterdusk was born.
As far as the band’s name, Afterdusk, Matt told me that they probably spent a year or more trying to think of a cool new name and just couldn’t come up with anything. Matt said he really likes band names with three syllables, like Paramore or Underoath. He thinks they just roll off the tongue in a cool way. He also liked the idea of it being a compound word with no space in between, just one word.
One night the band was outside Jonathan Dolese’s studio after recording and were trying to think of names. Corey was looking through Silent Planet songs and saw the song title “Afterdusk”. They immediately knew that was going to be the band’s name. It fit all the criteria, and they are fans of Silent Planet, so they thought it would be a cool tribute to them.
Afterdusk released a full-length album, FATALIZE, in February 2023. Since then, they've dropped several singles, “DIG MY OWN GRAVE” in 2024, and “CATALYST” and “KALEIDOSCOPE”, both in 2025, leading up to “COMASTATE”, which was just released today, August 22nd.
Matt told me Chris Rivera is Afterdusk’s main songwriter. Their songs start out with him writing some riffs or chord progressions and stringing them together. He’ll usually put some place holder drums there and spend days adding production such as keys, synths, orchestral pieces, and so on. Then Jeff Griffin will come in and write the drums the way he’d play them. Matt said he’s good at making the song take on a whole new vibe with just his drums alone.
The process of writing lyrics varies. Sometimes Chris has a complete idea and writes 90-to-100 percent of the lyrics. For some songs, Matt writes all the lyrics, and some are 50/50 Chris and Matt. Jeff has a couple lines in a few songs also. It really depends on the particular song they’re working on at the time.
Afterdusk also works closely on each song with their producer, Jonathan Dolese. Often they will come to the studio with a song 90 percent finished after they’ve taken it as far as they can. It’s fresh when it hits Jonathan’s ears, so he always knows what the song needs to really finish it and bring it home. Matt says he’s essentially their secret fifth band member. Having written about multiple artists who work with Jonathan Dolese, I have heard this a lot about him. He is not only a master of his craft, but from what I know about him he's also a super nice person and a lot of fun to work with.
Ty Trehern is the man behind Afterdusk’s visual side of things. Often their album covers and single art will stem from an idea that Matt will stew on for a while. Once he has a great concept and a way to execute it, he’ll bring it to Ty, who will help bring it to life. This was the case for Afterdusk’s 2023 album, FATALIZE.
For their latest singles, like “CATALYST” and “KALEIDOSCOPE”, Chris helped Matt capture what he was seeing in his head through photography, and Ty helped with the layout, color editing and logo. Matt said it’s a very collaborative effort.
I’ve been listening to and loving Afterdusk’s music for a few years now, and I’ve noticed a progression in their sound in the last couple years. It seems to be more refined, yet still has that raw heaviness that I love. The vocals are strong, the riffs are complex, and the drums are thunderous as this band brings the heat with each song they release. The members of this band are very talented, and they keep getting better all the time. I honestly believe this year’s three releases – “CATALYST”, “KALEIDOSCOPE”, and “COMASTATE” – are the best songs I’ve heard by Afterdusk. They just seem to keep raising the bar with each new track. I can’t wait to hear what’s next.
My thoughts on Afterdusk’s song topics are that many of them are about internal struggles, mental health issues -- things we all go through. It’s a simple description, but the concept is actually very deep and complex. Matt shared his thoughts on it.
“I’d say you’re pretty spot on. We don’t really write songs with much ambiguity in mind. Our songs are about pretty specific ideas, thoughts, current or past experiences. A lot of our lyrics are about internal struggles, dealing with health issues, struggling with faith, mental battles and coming to grips with your mortality. I question and ponder a lot of topics that appear in our lyrics and it’s really cool when Chris and I put our combined experiences together to create a unique lyrical perspective for a song.”
In the case of the new song, “COMASTATE”, the struggle with battling internal demons and not wanting to face the things that haunt us like painful memories is reflected in the chorus lyrics: “Living in a coma state To sleep my life away Pushing back these memories They have a hold on me I won’t ever look away Let it take away the pain And fill the void that I can’t change”
Afterdusk is currently wrapping up recording for their second album. There will be another single from that album released this year.
Something awesome that happend for Afterdusk this year was performing at the four-day Road To Warped Tour festival in Scranton, Pennsylvania in June. Afterdusk was part of the lineup Friday, June 13th, the same day as notable bands such as A Skylit Drive, Until I Wake, Fever 333, The Word Alive, Miss May I, and Memphis May Fire. I have no doubt the band gained a lot of new followers and fans while they were in Pennsylvania! I'm including a fun highlight video they put together which captures their adventures on the road.
The band has several upcoming shows:
Saturday 8/23 at 529 in Atlanta, Georgia -- Supporting Nick Nasty, along with Heroes For Ghosts and Forget Your Name
Friday 10/3 at The Handlebar in Pensacola, Florida -- With special guests Nick Nasty, Dead Etiquette, and Caving In
Tuesday 10/21 at the Alabama Music Box in Mobile -- Halloween show -- Headliner Fight From Within, with RESISTOR, Smile On The Sinner, Thin The Herd, and Dead Etiquette
If you are looking to support Afterdusk, joining the band’s Patreon is a great way to not only do that, but also to get access to new music in advance of it being released, exclusive behind-the-scenes content, and discounts on merch. It’s only $5 a month, which is well worth it. Here’s the link: AFTERDUSK BAND | Welcome to the family! | Patreon
Written by: Annie Schlottman Photo credit: Jeff Marocchi/Dirty Grain Photos; Ty Trehern
Comments