PHOTO CREDIT: ALEXANDRA GAVILLET
The music world’s most intriguing storytellers, Coheed and Cambria, have released their widely anticipated new album and the next chapter of “The Amory Wars” saga with Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind. The 13-song collection is available today on all streaming platforms with vinyl and cassette variants, along with a deeply immersive Deluxe Box Set available in the Coheed and Cambria’s official store.
Produced by the band’s own Claudio Sanchez and Zakk Cervini, Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind features the singles “Comatose,” “Rise, Naianasha (Cut The Cord),” “The Liars Club” – currently Top 25 at Active Rock radio – and “Shoulders” which broke into the Top 10 on the same chart earlier this year. Named one of Consequence’s “Top 20 Metal & Hard Rock Albums of 2022 (So Far),” Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind has been garnering critical acclaim from around the globe. “It would be hard to find a rock band with as much of an ambitious, all-encompassing artistic scope as you find with Coheed and Cambria,” affirmed Juxtapoz while Kerrang!attested “Coheed and Cambria continue to boldly go where no band has gone before, and long may it continue.” Revolvernoted “Vaxis II is kind of a perfect record for the pandemic age: an ambitious and truly epic song cycle that you can get thoroughly lost in,” and SPIN praised the collection for “flirting more overtly with dance beats, R&B, and symphonic music.”
Even while boasting some of Coheed’s most accessible material to date, Vaxis II is putting the story front and center more than ever, with accompanying cinematic visuals in both music videos and an official novelization. Vocalist Claudio Sanchez recognizes that not everybody will immediately get it, but he’s confident in the story he’s telling because he’s seen it bring people together firsthand. “I know it’ll probably be hard for some when you look at the album and you’re like, ‘This looks like a movie. What’s even in here?’” Sanchez said. “But why hide that? Hopefully, if you don’t want the concept, you can look past the story and the art and just enjoy the music. But if you do [dig deeper], I think you’re going to be well rewarded.”
Next month Coheed and Cambria will kick off their massive 2022 North American summer headline tour which will feature special guests Alkaline Trio and Mothica. Deemed the “A Window of The Waking Mind Tour,” the run marks the band’s first major headline tour in five years. The upcoming trek will kick off on July 12th and see the band performing at some of the largest venues of their career in major cities across the continent including Boston, Philadelphia, Nashville, Denver, Queens, Toronto, Los Angeles and more. Tickets for all dates are on sale now [full tour itinerary below]. For tickets and more information on Coheed and Cambria’s upcoming tour dates, visit www.coheedandcambria.com.
Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind welcomes us back to “The Amory Wars” as the 2nd installment of the new five-part “Vaxis” arc about a couple on the run from tyrannical forces and their mysterious new addition. The album’s limited edition deluxe box set includes the exclusive 96-page illustrated hardcover novel “A Window of the Waking Mind” which was developed by Sanchez and written by his wife Chondra Echertwith strikingly realistic color artwork by Chase Stone. The 9” x 12” box set also houses an exclusive Quintillan Speaker Containment Unit Lamp (approx. 8” diameter), a 3-panel fold out poster of expanded album cover art, and the A Window of the Waking Mind Black Card which will allow all card holders early access to tickets and early entry to Coheed and Cambria headline dates. All box sets will also come with a CD copy and download of Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind along with an official Certificate of Authenticity. For more information onVaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set, visit www.coheedandcambria.com.
For the last 20 years, Coheed and Cambria have continuously broken the mold of what a rock band can be, forging their own path and building a universe around their music unlike any other. Whether it is in the way their genre-spanning approach to songwriting has allowed them to bridge worlds without being contained to one, or the multifaceted story arc of their albums and comic book series which mark the longest running concept story in music, Coheed and Cambria have consistently shaped new standards, never conformed. Comprised of Claudio Sanchez (Vocals / Guitar), Travis Stever (Guitar), Josh Eppard (Drums) and Zach Cooper (Bass) the band has gripped listeners and press around the globe with their visionary compositions and conceptual mastery. In 2018, Coheed and Cambria made a stunning debut with their album Vaxis I: The Unheavenly Creatures, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s “Hard Rock Albums” chart, #6 current sales and Top 15 on the “Billboard 200” chart.
