''Coffins on Io'' is the seventh studio album by American

avant-garde metal Avant-garde metal (also known as avant-metal, experimental metal, and experimental) is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional soun ...

band

Kayo Dot Kayo Dot is an American avant-garde metal group. Formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the break-up of ''maudlin of the Well'', they released their debut album ''Choirs of the Eye'' on John Zorn's Tzadik Records that same year. Since then, Kayo ...

, released in the UK on August 14, 2014 and in the US on October 13 through experimental metal label

The Flenser The Flenser (also known as Flenser Records) is a San Francisco-based record label specializing in experimental music. Notable bands that work with or have worked with The Flenser include: Have a Nice Life, Botanist, Deafheaven, Wreck and Refe ...

. It is a follow up to 2013's

Hubardo ''Hubardo'' is the sixth studio album by American avant-garde metal band Kayo Dot. It is a concept double album self-released and funded through pre-orders on frontman Toby Driver's Ice Level Records in 2013. It is the follow up to ''Gamma Knife'' ...

. It's the first album from Kayo Dot to not be self-released since 2012's

Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is surgery using radiation, that is, the destruction of precisely selected areas of tissue (biology), tissue using ionizing radiation rather than excision with a blade. Like other forms of radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) ...

. ''Coffins on Io'' marks a notable change in sound. It combines influences of

Type O Negative Type O Negative were an American gothic metal band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1989 by Peter Steele (bass, lead vocals), Kenny Hickey (guitar, co-lead vocals), Josh Silver (keyboards, backing vocals), and Sal Abruscato (drums, percussi ...

The Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasin ...

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

, dark wave and other 80s electronic musicians. It combines aspects of

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

and new wave. It was produced by Toby Driver.

Writing and recording

After releasing an album on

for one of Driver's other bands, ''Vaura'', Driver gave the label four songs that he had considered releasing under a different band moniker. After the label's reception to the tracks, he decided to release it under the Kayo Dot moniker, the label signing the band to a contract then, the band's first music to be released by a label since 2010. The album began as a four-song experiment, and was transformed into a full-length album. Continuing the theme of the last album, the album was recorded by the full live band.

Music and lyrics

Driver has said that the album was influenced by dark wave as well as

and other similar electronic bands of the 1980s. Driver said in an interview that the album was heavily influenced by dark wave and was written as evoking "1980s retrofuture noir." Driver's insistence that the album stay away from the influence of

resulted in an album that sounds drastically different from prior Kayo Dot albums. There are no growled vocals, and the album is not metal like many of the prior albums. In addition, this album relies heavily on repetition and melody, something prior Kayo Dot albums have strayed away from. Driver said in an interview that film heavily influenced the direction of the album, specifically

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

Release and reception

The album was released on October 15 through

. It is available for purchase on The Flenser's site and Kayo Dot's bandcamp in MP3,

FLAC FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software p ...

, CD and LP. The album has received positive reviews, many praising the band's shift in music direction. ''Empty Lighthouse'' called it "Kayo Dot's best album to date" and celebrates its ability to "nail the noir feel," describing the album as "Lynchian". Re-views Media writer Michael Snoxall gave the album four stars out of five, saying the album feels familiar yet alien at the same time, and that the album is a "monumental" and "towering achievement."

SputnikMusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...

gave it a 4/5, saying it "hums with sleek resonance" and calling the album "vibrant and exciting."

Track listing

Music by Toby Driver. Lyrics by Jason Byron.

Credits

*Toby Driver -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

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

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

*Daniel Means - alto sax, tenor sax *Ron Varod -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Keith Abrams -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Tim Byrnes -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffins on Io 2014 albums Kayo Dot albums The Flenser albums