Vaxis - Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind (album)

Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind (often shortened to Vaxis 2, Vaxis II, Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind, or just A Window of the Waking Mind) is the tenth studio album by progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria. It was released on June 24, 2022 continuing the band's Vaxis arc of The Amory Wars concept.

Story
"" In October 2021, Sanchez did an interview with The Grammys, in which he unveiled the main plot of Act II: Vaxis is born, but "seems catatonic" to his parents, Nia Worn and Nostrand Crane, so they spend their time trying to help him, but only because they don't know that he "can access wavelengths that they can't even comprehend." Sanchez also said "If you break “Vaxis” into two parts, the “V” refers to the Roman numeral for five, as the fifth story of The Amory Wars. And then the second part of his name, “axis,” is the axis in which all of the Amory Wars revolves." We also know that there are a pair of brothers, an organization called The Liars Club, and that the parents will work with an android called A51. Regarding the Liars Club (a black market syndicate): it's leader, Candelaria, is described as "deeply depraved" and "highly illustrious"; the couple will work with Candelaria to gain access to high-paying contracts and the group's hideaway, but at what cost?

Background & Production
Originally conceived before the |COVID pandemic, some themes being worked on were changed. For example, one song was titled "Hallelujah Quarantine" which was about the Liars Club ship, The Quarantine and the organization's "celebration" that actually takes young kids and turns them into blood banks. Sanchez speculated several times that the song may not make the album due to the pandemic, later confirming in a livestream prior to the official music video for "Shoulders" being released, that they had in fact dropped it. Eppard suggested that one day they might release it as a demo as the track was great.

Additionally, due to the constraints the pandemic had on meeting in person, Sanchez felt he got to make the album how he "always wanted to make a record," and explained that he wrote and recorded in his home office, then sent the files to the other members who put their parts on it, and then brought everything to co-producer Zakk Cervini, whom Sanchez praised as having "got what we were doing" and thought it was incredible what he was doing to the songs to make them "pop." He actually brought him a "hard drive's worth of stuff that wasn't entirely completed" and got two songs out of it: the aforementioned "Shoulders" as well as "A Disappearing Act" which he thought was thrilling. In addition to Cervini, also a big feature on the album was Christopher Jahnke who suggested bring the theme from "The Dark Sentencer" in and out of the album and delivered "stunning" orchestration for "Window of the Waking Mind". This accompaniment was originally suppose to be for the intro, but Sanchez immediately recognized it as fitting perfectly for the "outro"—when the song ends, the symphony comes in and revisits "The Dark Sentencer" melody.

In an email to fans on April 27th, 2022, the band said that due to "ongoing issues with vinyl manufacturing, COVID shutdowns in China, and supply-chain disruptions," they would be pushing the album's release date back by almost a month (from May 27th to June 24th).

Editions
Deluxe Edition
 * Digital & Physical copy of the album
 * A 96-page novella written by Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert with illustrations by Chase Stone
 * A certificate of authenticity
 * A lamp of a Quintillian Speaker Containment Unit
 * A foldout of the expanded album art
 * A Black Card which allows fans early concert access
 * Fans that preordered before Jan 23 had their names included on the "Liars Club" list and their COA signed

Vinyl Editions
 * D2C Exclusive "Marmalade Glow" (Orange & Baby Blue)
 * Blue Swirl (FYE Exclusive)
 * Orange w/ Pink Swirl (Limited to 1000)
 * Revolver had a Collectable Edition which included a limited C-Print on watercolor paper by Justin Borucki, an alternative cover of the issue they were featured in, and a unique slipcase for the issue.
 * Electric Blue (Limited Clear)
 * Sea Blue (Limited Indies Only)
 * Black

Critical Reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 from reviews to mainstream critics, Vaxis – Act II generated a score of 80/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews." AllMusic gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. Classic Rock gave it a 7 out of 10 stars. Distorted Sound magazine gave it a perfect 10 out of 10. FwrdAxis! gave it 5 stars. ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrang! Kerrang!]'' gave it a 4 out of 5. Metal Injection gave the album an 8.5 out of 10. Rock Sins gave it an overall score of 9 out of 10. Ghost Cult Magazine gave it a 9 out of 10. Wall of Sound gave the album a 9.5 out of 10. Sputnikmusic gave it possibly it's lowest rating at 2 out of 5 stars. Metal Hammer ultimately gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying it may be easy to take the band for granted, but it would be a shame as the band's ambition has no bounds.

Reviews
Gary Mackenzie of Prog Magazine said the album was a "more ambitious approach of old" citing delicate initial bars that bloom into overture, glut of irresistibly catchy choruses and wider influences shining on the latter half of the album. He called the final track a "real shot of prog" and a "multipart mini epic." He said Vaxis II features "unashamedly slick and chart-friendly" tracks but praised the band for still finding ways to be inventive within that framework and said "that's the mark of a great band" concluding the article. The issue also featured a full page ad on the back cover calling the album "stunning."

It was given the #2 spot of Metal Hammer's Top Album chart for June 2022 with an average score of 4.71 out of 7. In the review, Sebastian Kessler (the Editor-in-Chief) said the album was "strong" and "inspiring," concluding to say that the band may be less aggressive nowadays than they were at their start but "no less surprising, outrageously catchy, and enchanting." And fellow reviewer, Eike Cramer listed the album as his number 1 on his playlist and calling it surprising.

Gregory Adams of Guitar World summed up the album by saying it "commingles [genre] crossover appeal with detuned dark pop and high-flying guitar play." Zack and Matt of 2 Minutes to Review both gave the album a 3.5 out of 5. It made Deezer's Album of the Week upon release. Chorus.FM highly recommended it.

Charts
It peaked on the Billboard 200 at #23, while it charted at #1 on their Top Hard Rock Albums & Top Classic Rock Albums categories, #2 on Top Alternative Rock Albums, #3 on Top Rock Albums, #4 on Top Digital Albums, #6 on Top Vinyl Albums, and #8 on Top Albums Sales and Top Current Album Sales.

It charted internationally at #73 on the UK Album Chart,, #4 on the UK Rock & Metal Album Chart, #40 on the Swiss Albums Chart, #16 on the Scottish Chart, #23 on Australia's ARIA, and #27 on the German Album Chart.

Trivia

 * As the album was being worked on near the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, its production and release were delayed due to the |COVID pandemic.
 * Sanchez has stated that album was completed more than a year ago in a May 2022 interview with AltPress.
 * Musically, Sanchez said that this album is the band working with no limits. "I just approached it in a way where I tried to keep all limitations out."
 * The album was featured in Consequence of Sound 's Top 10 albums of 2022 (so far) list.
 * After the release of the vinyl presale, fans noticed that the "D" side which had previously only been listed as "Window of the Waking Mind", had at least two parts titled "V: The Mother" and "VI: The Father" leading to speculation that it would be one long, six-part track, or a song suite, with the former being correct.
 * In April, the band released a web browser, endless runner game titled, Vaxis II: The Game. Free to play, it featured the singles from the upcoming album.
 * An excerpt of Chapter 10 was read on release day at the Rough Trade event in NY.