Kayo Dot

Choirs of the Eye

★★★★

I've never been a metal fan in all honesty, but that's ok. You don't need to be a fan of the genre to listen to this release. Interestingly enough on the Tzadik label, it combines certain elements that you'd expect from Zorn's label with this post-rock / metal instrumentation that makes for a truly unique listening experience. 

It is chaotic, but not in your typical metal fashion; Kayo Dot truly makes an album that borrows a little from everything. It's the melting pot of avant garde during the 90's. There's many shifting moods that travel from the most meditative and airy to powerfully crushing and thunderous. And everything in between is part of the journey. The vocals seem emo like (they're not really my favorite part), there can be some GYBE material or some Sleep riffs. It can be classical it can be jazz it can be math rock it can be anything you want it to be really. 

In many ways it presents itself like a massive gray cloud, but one that can sometimes be completely solid. There are so many ideas and concepts being put into play that each one only has a short period of time to present itself. That keeps it really interesting and completely unpredictable. Like on the song "The Antique", the majority of it might seem like a straightforward doom metal song, but there's horns, floating instrumentation. It takes you everywhere

I may need more time with this honestly, multiple listens. But I can say that this is anything but truly natural; it's something only humans could conjure up. And when people say "this isn't something for everyone", I usually throw that remark away. It's up to the listener to make the decision to open themselves up to any music that exists. This is a great example of that. 

Favorite Song: The Manifold Curiosity