BAND: KAYO DOT (BROOKLYN, NY/MASSACHUSETTS ,USA) GENRE: PROGRESSIVE/AVANT GARDE METAL LABEL: (SELF RELEASED) ICE LEVEL MUSIC RELEASE DATE: 8/2013KAYO DOT: PREVIOUS RELEASES (CATALOG) : GAMMA KNIFE (1/3/2012-SELF RELEASED), STAINED GLASS (EP-11/26/2010-HYDRAHEAD RECORDS), LIVE IN BONN (4/20/2010-SELF RELEASED), COYOTE (4/6/2010-HYDRAHEAD RECORDS), CHAMPIONS OF SOUND 2008 (SPLIT- WITH PELICAN-6/2009-HYDRAHEAD RECORDS), BLUE LAMBENCY DOWNWARD
(5/6/2008-HYDRA HEAD RECORDS), KAYO DOT/BLOODY PANDA (SPLIT-7/6/2006-HOLY ROAR RECORDS), DOWSING ANEMONE WITH COPPER TONGUE (1/10/2006-ROBOTIC EMPIRE), CHOIRS OF THE EYE (10/21/2003-TZADIK RECORDS)
MAUDLIN OF THE WELL: PREVIOUS RELEASES (CATALOG) : THE COMPLETE WORKS (BOXED SET-2012-BLOOD MUSIC), BOXED SET (2/1/2012-BLOOD MUSIC), PART THE MUSIC (5/14/2009-SELF RELEASED), LEAVING YOUR BODY MAP (8/7/2001-DARK SYMPHONIES), BATH (8/7/2001-DARK SYMPHONIES), MY FRUIT PSYCHOBELLS...A SEED COMBUSTIBLE (DARK SYMPHONIES-1999), ODES TO DARKSOME SPRING (DEMO-1997),
BEGAT OF THE HAUNTED OAK: AN ACORN, (DEMO-1997), THROUGH LANGUID VEINS (DEMO-1996)
BEST RELEASE (S): (KAYO DOT): HUBARDO (2013), CHOIRS OF THE EYE (2003), COYOTE (2010)
BEST RELEASE (S): (MAUDLIN OF THE WELL): BATH, LEAVING YOUR BODY MAP (2001)
TRACKLISTING : KAYO DOT: HUBARDO:
1. The Black Stone (~7:00)
2. Crown-In-The-Muck (~9:00)
3. Thief (~5:30)
4. Vision Adjustment To Another Wavelength (~5:00)
5. Zodelida Caosaji (To Water The Earth) (~6:00)
6. The First Matter (Saturn In The Guise Of Sadness) (~9:30)
7. The Second Operation (Lunar Water) (~10:30)
8. Floodgate (~7:00)
9. And He Built Him A Boat (~7:00)
10. Passing The River (~8:00)
11. The Wait Of The World (~18:00)
ITP RATING: **** 1/2
PRODUCTION: **** 1/2
New York City/Massachusetts based Avant Garde/experimental metal pioneers KAYO DOT are a perplexing ensemble of pure genius.
From the ashes of experimental doom metal warriors MAUDLIN OF THE WELL (and originally signed to JOHN ZORN's record label TZADIK RECORDS), KAYO DOT meld experimental post rock, jazz fusion, with blackened extreme metal.
Having the pleasure of witnessing TOBY DRIVER's pre KAYO DOT project MAUDLIN OF THE WELL turn heads at the 2001 NEW JERSEY METAL FEST, KAYO DOT's musical progression is stunning in
beauty, influential in progression, and within majestic compositions, a sonic triumph.
Hmmm "MAUDLIN OF THE DOT"?
KAYO DOT's "Hubardo" kicks off with the ominous track "The Black Stone", evoking a dark lurking presence within experimental soundscapes. KAYO DOT dance in and out of "The Black Stone" like clouds in the sky . TOBY DRIVER's chanted, spoken word death vox emote a soundtrack to a mystery flick.
Like the sun peaking from the clouds, KAYO DOT's "The Black Stone" (6:06) transitions into a standard instrumental composition, testing the drummer as he picks up the pace every few measures. KAYO DOT's "The Black Stone" transitions into blastbeats and evil blackened experimental chaos, complete with a wailing sax, and blackened rasps, the contrast from experimental to extreme is mindblowing and cathartic.
KAYO DOT's "Crown Of The Muck", kicks off with standard bluesy noodling, transitioning into tight free form jazz, complete with sax, guitar solos as whispered vocals segue in at 4:12. KAYO DOT's "Crown Of The Muck" segues into a nasty slug out of sludgy screams, blastbeats and post hardcore. WOW!!!!!
KAYO DOT's "Thief" evoke a wirldwind of experimental, symphonic chaos, employing clean screamed vocals and (:55) in blink of an eye, transitioning to experimental, wandering tones, progressive rock meandering.
KAYO DOT's "Thief" features a horn section evoking some sense of melody in the experimental chaos, and while meandering, this songs complex progressive structures offer compositional alternatives to prog rock.
KAYO DOT's "Vision Adjustment To Another Wavelength" is an experimental progressive noise rock juggernaut of post punk and utter destruction. KAYO DOT's "Vision Adjustment To Another Wavelength" takes a turn into left field (2:29) with an experimental flute "breakdown", the unexpected indeed, as MR. BUNGLES could not even be so talented to pull that off.
KAYO DOT's "Zodelida Caosaji (To Water The Earth)", is a complex progressive death metal composition, with jazzy keyboard interludes, and atmospheric tones, all while consolidating extreme metal, progressive rock and emotive screamed and death vox. It might take a while for people to wrap their heads around KAYO DOT's exquisite musicianship, an enlightened experience.
Although entirely to long and meandering, KAYO DOT's "The First Matter (Saturn In The Guise Of Sadness)" enters as a shoegazer ballad, as the track emotes depressive, ambient/ doom, post 80's darkness. The classically inspired ballad "The Second Operation (Lunar Water)" segues perfectly, with clean female vox, violin, as the two tracks, a breather in the experimental brutality, evoke darkness and beauty, a meditation mantra.
KAYO DOT's "Floodgate", an understated progressive blackened metal track, evokes unholy, cathartic intensity and some underrated and tight drum patterns via KEITH ABRAMS. KAYO DOT's "Floodgate" evokes a rage of an unrelenting, technical, progressive/blackened metal slug out, a soundtrack to the most insidious deed as progressive blackened metal never sounded so horrifying. \m/ \m/
KAYO DOT's epic "And He Built Him A Boat", enters with a more traditional, post rock song structure, quality songwriting, excellent clean vocals via TOBY DRIVER and female vox for a wondrous and memorable track.
KAYO DOT's "Passing The River", enters within a post rock song composition, evoking melancholic beauty as the song propels into an post rock anthem and segues from noise rock into "brutiliful" atmospheric blackened metal bliss (5:53).
KAYO DOT's "Passing The River" transitions from post rock, to experimental jazz fusion (6:33), amalgamating into a sizzling cauldron of blackened metal and excellent post rock/ folk ballad songwriting.. Ambitious in scope, perfect in execution, KAYO DOT's "Passing The River" is down right epic.
KAYO DOT's closes with "Hubardo's" longest track "The Wait Of The World", as the song enters with a few minutes of high quality free form progressive jazz, UNTIL (..wait for it 1:27.)..All HELL breaks loose as KAYO DOT bring the HEAVY, tempering the jazz fusion for progressive HARD ROCK.
KAYO DOT's "The Wait Of The World" segues into awesome ambient pop (2:23) featuring a quality clean vocal performance via TOBY DRIVER as the track transitions into (instrumental), jazz fusion with a quality saxophone performance. KAYO DOT's "The Wait Of The World" amalgamates into a multi-genre jazz fusion, ambient pop epic, and you better believe it, a beautiful eargasm for the ages.
KAYO DOT's "Hubardo" is an epic, extreme metal, genre bending triumph , against all standard music industry odds, self released.
KAYO DOT's "Hubardo" features crystal clear and improved production via RANDALL DUNN, with a crowd sourced and excellent mastering job via JASON WARD as this is indeed justice considering "Hubardo's" multi instrumentation and awe inspiring musicianship.
While often lauded for incohesive meandering, KAYO DOT are not just a talented improv ensemble, every note is specific, as few bands have the talent or the courage to consolidate multi genres with quality songwriting and technical mastery. Imagine a tablature for KAYO DOT's "Hubardo". For the most part, KAYO DOT's "Hubardo" makes compositional sense, emoting atmosphere to bi polar and epic extremes.
KAYO DOT's consolidation of free form jazz fusion, post rock, quality songwriting with blackened extreme metal is unrivaled as "Hubardo" is an EPIC majestic, ambitious, progression of both beauty and darkness.
KAYO DOT's "Hubardo", a near masterpiece, is by far one of the most insightful and enlightened releases of 2013.
ITP RATING: **** 1/2
PRODUCTION: **** 1/2
SONGWRITING: ****
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-
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