Coheed and Cambria: Vaxis II - A Window of the Waking Mind (2LP, coloured vinyl) [ROADRUNNER]

Why you'll love it

This coloured-vinyl 2LP set gives the band's tenth album a full four sides, ending with the title track on Side D by itself. It's the second chapter of the five-part Vaxis arc, packed with big hooks like "Shoulders," "Comatose" and "A Disappearing Act."

This edition

• 2LP set
• Coloured vinyl

About the album

Some bands write albums; Claudio Sanchez writes instalments. Since the early 2000s nearly every Coheed record has pushed along The Amory Wars, his sprawling science-fiction saga, and this one picks up the story of a couple on the run from tyrannical forces and their mysterious new addition. It follows 2018's The Unheavenly Creatures, which opened the Vaxis story.

Sanchez started writing in 2019 and produced it with Zakk Cervini, and several songs grew out of living through lockdown; one early idea, about a gang using quarantines as cover for theft, was shelved when it suddenly felt too close to home. The band set out to take risks rather than play it safe, so "The Liars Club" and "Love Murder One" swing for the rafters, "Shoulders" stomps, "Comatose" and "A Disappearing Act" go full stadium-pop, and "Rise, Naianasha (Cut the Cord)" leads into the title track's grand finale.

Twenty years in, they're still finding new ways to make prog feel like a sing-along. You don't need to have read the earlier chapters, though we suspect you'll want to.

Also at Kops: more Coheed and Cambria on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Roadrunner Records, the 2022 album.