Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind

This album is by far, hands down, the greatest album of 2022. The instrumentals, vocals, lyrics, imagery and lyrics overall creativity of the project make this progressive rock album a tour de force that has no other place in music but the very top. Outstanding!

If you’re not progressing you’re dying. That’s exactly how I’d characterize C&C new album. Haters expect their favorite bands to never expand and experiment in new ways. “I just wish they would sound like their first album” well too bad! This album is a great take on C&C expanding their musical ability. Top to bottom this albums just rocks. It will make you dance, give you chills, and give you enough anthems to sing until your voice gives out!

They sound more like back when they made TSSTB, IKoSE3, GAIBS which are my favorites, so I think it’s a fantastic album. It feels good to be excited about CoCa again.

AWotWM is easily the band’s best album to date. This hits *exactly* the way you want a Coheed album to while also exploring exciting new musical spaces. The fusion of their classic sound and the willingness to experiment results in 53 minutes of pure sonic bliss. Not only is there not a bad track here; there isn’t even a mediocre one. Each is masterfully crafted from the arrangements to the lyrics and vocals. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool child of the fence who appreciated the laser-focus of the band’s other recent releases (think ‘Afterman’ forward). That said, ‘Vaxis II’ is a breath of fresh air I didn’t even know I wanted. I hope this bold exploratory spirit carries into Coheed’s future releases. Even if you’ve never listened to a Coheed & Cambria album, this is an excellent place to start. It’s wholly enjoyable separate from any awareness of the lore at play. That said, there’s plenty to delight aficionados as well. And that really encapsulates the brilliance of this album; it is both hugely rewarding for die-hards *and* highly accessible to new listeners. I cannot say enough good things about AWotWM. Do yourself a solid and have a listen.

In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3 and Good Apollo Vol. 1 are their best albums. Ascension and Descension had some strong stuff too but ever since they did their non-concept album in 2015, their stuff had lost the spark. Too many songs sounded the same on Vaxis 1, and just no new ground covered. However, this new album is very very good. I feel like they’re back to form, great compositions and instrumentation. Some goofy auto-tune parts in a couple songs but sonically this album is strong.

I see some people saying mainstream or too popish. I mean I think the songs and story flow great. I love great music and this is great stuff. Some of its heavier and some not but it is well written throughout. Great job fellas!

Long term fan here, I love the album, although it is a (little) bit different for them and I can see not all fans loving it. My only personal issue is the second track. The intro was nice but was expecting it to lead into a better song than what we got on track 2. Coheed is known for their (usually long) stand-out intro tracks, and this one does NOT meet the standard in my opinion. Otherwise, great album, and keep up the good work!

The album starts out strong with an epic intro and a few very guitar driven songs that made me hopeful for the rest but the second half of this album is mostly electronic with dance beats and it becomes pretty forgettable and unimpressive. I definitely miss the band being more guitar oriented. Sort of reminds me of the way smashing pumpkins have gone.

Listen all the way through. Making a review off samples or listening to a couple is one thing, but this album is best as a collection. Loved it and I really hope they’re touring nearby.

It may be a very different sound and direction for the band in many ways, and I can totally understand why that is offputting or disappointing to some, but it is still absolutely true to the style and spirit of this band and their previous work. It's easily the best album this year so far and unlikely to be topped by anything yet to release. Frankly, it might be a masterpiece. It's like a spiritual successor to a Queen album in all the best ways and feels like listening to a blockbuster movie in music form. Truly grand and inspiring in scale, exciting and fun to listen to, and just plain refreshing. It succeeds at conveying the concept story vividly, perhaps only eclipsed by how perfectly that was done with their two Afterman albums about a decade ago, and it succeeds at taking the prog rock genre in wild new directions and dizzying new heights. Standout tracks for me are Comatose, Love Murder One, Bad Man, Ladders of Supremacy, and the title track. This entire production is the definition of a spectacle, and as a long time fan despite missing their old heavier metal sound, I can't help but love this album as it is because it still rings true to the things they've always set out to do and accomplished with their music.