Upcoming Experimental Metal Band Kaonashi Announce New Album, "I Want To Go Home.”

Philly-based experimental metal band Kaonashi has just announced their new album, I Want To Go Home, set to release on June 6 via Equal Vision Records. The record is the second part of a concept series, following the 2021 album Dear Lemon House, You Ruined Me: Senior Year and three connecting EPs. It highlights the band’s musical journey, taking their sound to new heights and continuing to defy genres, and brings the saga to an epic conclusion. Preorder the album HERE.

Formed in 2012, Kaonashi has always prided themselves in not being bound to a particular genre. They gather inspiration from genres like death metal and progressive metal bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Coalesce with their unexpected time changes. I Want To Go Home. leans further into the band’s proclivity for experimentation while also emphasizing the narrative of the record and the multi-record saga as a whole.

"[Conceptually], this album answers any questions anyone has ever had about the story,” vocalist Peter Rono shares, adding that Kaonashi’s 2024 EP collection, The 3 Faces Of Beauty: A Violent Misinterpretation Of Morgan Montgomery/A Second Chance At Forever: The Brilliant Lies From Casey Diamond, also expands upon the overall story. “It was written to be heavy, chaotic and overwhelming.”

Rono also explains the influence of touring on the new record, since Kaonashi has been continuously touring since 2021 supporting acts such as The Fall of Troy and Protest the Hero. “I think [touring] has influenced the record because we’ve been playing further out than we ever have to the most people we ever have and [getting] the craziest reactions we ever had this far from this band,” Rono says. “I can’t help but take that into consideration when I’m writing because it's really inspired. Before I was just trying to prove to people that we were worth listening to and now we have a dedicated audience, so I want to provide the best music that I can.”

Rono also shares how Kaonashi’s experimental sound can be very polarizing to a general audience, and was initially worried about whether or not the band would even find an audience. “I’ve been saying this a lot on this tour to summarize the band, but people hate what they don’t understand and I think that’s been extremely polarizing,” Rono explains. “It hasn’t been this simple, easy trajectory, it’s been love and hate. It’s been one or the other and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The people who do understand it genuinely support us and the people who don’t actively dislike us. So I embrace it and I love it and I’m glad it’s been that way… it’s been equally easier and harder.”

Overall, Kaonashi has leaned into their genre-defying sound and continued to make music that is true to themselves with I Want To Go Home. Rono shares, “I don’t just go in and write a song, I go into it with aim and intention and try to emulate these things that I love. It just so happens that a lot of the things I love are polarizing artists that are creative and expressive for no other reason than just to make music that they like.”

He continues, “It really just comes from chasing the same thing I’ve always loved and what got me here in the first place. That hasn’t changed and it’s been like a through line of this band from 2012 until now: Extreme art, extreme aggression and originality. I’ve seen the easy way — and that’s just not the way I want to go.”

I Want To Go Home. track listing:

Confusion In A Car Crash

Fairmount Park After Dark

Extra Prayers

When I Say

J.A.M.I.E. (featuring Anthony Green)

Red Sink, Yellow Teeth

Slower Forms of Suicide

Fly On The Wall (An Orange Sidewalk Paved Around Your Feet)

Elephant In The Room (If You Can Keep A Secret)

The Sanguine I — Nevermind, Narcissist

The Sanguine II — Misguided Malice

The Sanguine III — Auditorium Annihilation

The Sanguine IV — Exit Pt. VII (The Confession of Classroom 2114)

Kaonashi will embark on a headliner tour supporting the new record release this summer. Sabella, Ballista, and Rakuyo will join as support. Get tickets HERE.

MAY

30 — Rutherford, NJ — Williams Center ^

31 — Worcester, MA — Palladium Upstairs ^

JUNE

01 — Biddeford, ME — 2nd Floor 23 Lincoln Street ^

03 — Buffalo, NY — Amvets Medallion Post 13 ^

04 — Columbus, OH — Ace of Cups ^

05 — Pontiac, MI — Pike Room ^

06 — Chicago, IL — Reggies #

07 — Lincoln, NE — Witches Brew #

09 — Denver, CO - D3 Arts #

13 — Mesa, AZ — Nile Theater #