Kayo Dot is an American avant-garde metal band. Formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the break-up of Maudlin of the Well, they released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn's Tzadik Records that same year. Since then, Kayo Dot's lineup has drastically changed over the years. Toby Driver is the only founding member of the band still remaining, save for frequent lyrical contributions from former motW member Jason Byron. Up until 2011, the lineup was constantly shifting, and Kayo Dot's sound consistently changed over the years, featuring a wide variety of instrumentation including guitar, drums, bass, violin, saxophone, vibraphone, synthesizers, clarinets and flutes. Underground metal audiences warmly received the group upon its early existence, with the 2003 album Choirs of the Eye and the 2006 album Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue both becoming underground hits in the progressive metal scene.

Over the years, in addition to the rotating lineup and constantly changing sounds, Kayo Dot has been signed to a number of different record labels, Tzadik, Robotic Empire, Hydra Head, Driver's self-release imprint, Ice Level Music, The Flenser, and Prophecy Productions.

As of 2021, Kayo Dot has released ten studio albums, one EP and one split: Choirs of the Eye in 2003, Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue as well as Kayo Dot/Bloody Panda split in 2006, Blue Lambency Downward, Coyote in 2010, an EP titled Stained Glass in 2011, Gamma Knife in 2012 and a double-album Hubardo in 2013. Coffins on Io, the group's seventh album, was released in 2014 via The Flenser. Their eighth studio album, Plastic House on Base of Sky, was released in 2016, followed up by their ninth, Blasphemy in 2019, and latest album, Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike, via Prophecy Productions on October 29, 2021. It reached the German Top 100 Album Charts for the first time in the week after its release.