IAO (album)
IAO (subtitled Music in Sacred Light) is an album by John Zorn released in 2002 on the Tzadik label. The album was inspired by Aleister Crowley and his follower, filmmaker Kenneth Anger and draws its title from the Kabbalistic identity of IAO, the initials of Isis, Apophis and Osiris, used as a magical formula in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and in Aleister Crowley's Gnostic Mass. Reception. Allmusic's François Couture observed "This album, a studio suite, is wrapped in mysticism... "I.A.O." makes a calm, enjoyable listen and beyond its mystical claims, it includes some  strong compositions". Writing for Pitchfork Media, Dominique Leone stated "The music of "IAO" is classic Zorn: dark ambient exoticism, ethnic percussion exercises, hypnotic suspense-film music, thrash, and avant-garde classical. Similar to his recent "Music for Children" series, he seems to be loosening the reins on his tradition for branding each project an isolated incident, opting instead to use all of his best colors on one canvas... Whatever the inspiration for IAO, the results are often so engaging (and, yes, sometimes scary) that it's hard to question Zorn's motives". On All About Jazz, Farrell Lowe wrote that  John Zorn incorporates a wide array of influences and musical styles in IAO". To his credit, he never loses sight of his reason for creating the music in the first place. Like an alchemist, he seems to be interested in the manifestation and transformation of human physicality into numinous spirit... "IAO" is powerful music outside the realm of head/solo/head mentality, but equally valid—and a welcome addition to the canon of creative music". Track listing. "All compositions by John Zorn"