There are not many bands that can pump out 17 full length albums in the span of 11 years, very few bands who could do so while maintain such a consistent, high standard, and even fewer who can do so while spanning multiple genres and bizarre concepts. Over the past decade Australian mad men King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have created their own fuzzy, psychedelic musical universe, spanning the loudest, fuzziest and most blaring psych rock the last decade has seen (2014’s I’m in Your Mind Fuzz), an endlessly looping album (2016’s Nonagon Infinity), a 21 track narrated post-apocalyptic “concept album to end all concepts” (2017’s Murder of the Universe) and a fucking thrash metal album about climate change (2018’s Infest the Rats’ Nest). At any given time you can assume King Gizz have a full length project ready to go at a moment’s notice, and you’d have no clue what they were going to do next.
L.W is King Gizz’s 17th studio album, sister album to last years K.G, and the third entry into the Explorations into Microtonal Tuning series, beginning in 2017 with their album Flying Microtonal Banana. Like K.G, this album is generally a more relaxed approach to their microtonal insanity, at least compared to some of their other albums, however they also take a surprisingly funky approach this time around.
The opening track “If Not Now, Then When?” begins with waves of crashing cymbals and a flurry of kick drums, fronted by singer and guitarist Stu Mackenzie’s signature crackling fuzz guitar sound, which sounds less like your typically dense and mid-heavy Big Muffs and more like someone took to the speakers of a Fender Deluxe Reverb with a razor blade and then cranked it to 11. This sets up the sound that I immediately think of when I think of King Gizzard, however then we transition into a syncopated, laid back piece of slacker-funk, backed by some tight and muffled drums grooves, uppity analog synths and Mackenzies high pitched falsetto vocals, which fits right in as if his voice was another instrument itself. It’s and extremely pleasant track that sounds like it could have been ripped from the soundtrack of Skate 3, despite the paranoid lyrics about government monitoring and environmental damage.
“When the forest’s nearly gone
When the hole’s in the ozone
When the bees are gone
If not now, then when?”
“O.N.E” continues the funky, synth-led sound before integrating the bands signature fuzzed out and twangy guitar riffs back into the mix, with their own microtonal flair, before the third track “Pleura” brings the signature Gizz sound in full force. Grand, psychedelic guitar riffs, odd time signatures and breakneck drumming with the odd wah pedal and Mackenzies signature distorted, delay drenched WOOs. Supreme Ascendency lets drummer Michael Cavanaugh show of some impressive chops, with some breakbeat inspired drumming in a 5/4 time signature.
I’ll also use this chance to say that the drum sound on this album is nearly flawless with the damp snare and kick drum, it perfectly captures the 70s era psych sound and fits horribly well within modern, cleaner production. All of these tracks are coated in this Middle-Eastern sound with some world instruments and polyrhythmic aux percussion that I can’t imagine any other current rock band pulling of in a non-campy way, and despite the production sounding amazing, it’s still the bands tight performance that truly brings the songs to life.
“Static Electricity” sounds like it was pulled straight from the streets of Arabia and slapped with some hard-hitting hip-hop inspired half-time drums that double-times throughout the song as its tension builds, leading straight into East West Link, the shortest track on the album clocking in at just over 3 minutes, acting as more of an epilogue to the last track rather than its own fully formed idea.
“Ataraxia” takes on a darker sound with its angular, bendy guitar riffs, and soaring leads, particularly in the back end of the track with its slowly building movement, another moment where Cavanaugh’s drumming simply just kicks ass, before devolving into a melting hodgepodge of collapsing delays. Unfortunately, the track “See Me” is the low point of the album for me. It’s not bad, it just feels like stuff we have heard before throughout the album, despite building into a pretty massive ending with the thick guitars beginning to tower over the songs repeated descending synth lead with the drums barrelling over both, it still isn’t completely worth the build-up having overstayed it’s welcome.
But this brings me to not only the highlight of the album, but one of the highlights of King Gizzard’s massive, other-worldly and constantly expanding discography. “K.G.L.W” is a world-ending closer. An 8-and-a-half-minute long doom metal titan. The song that takes this album from a sun-soaked wander through the desert to a Mad Max inspired trek through the post apocalypse. The wah-drenched and sludge covered guitars are backed by slow, heavy drums that sound like a world-sized Kaiju wrecking buildings with every step it takes, only once broken up by a groovy, palm muted riff before upping the scale with a full on slowcore breakdown. Some primal drum build up takes us into the last few minutes of this album, an absolute riff fest that wouldn’t sound too out of place on an early Black Sabbath album. It is an absolute feast for the ears and perfectly rounds off this album. If you check out anything from this project, let it be this track.
L.W is yet another drop in the King Gizzard ocean, but it remains an ocean I’d happily swim in anytime. The bands loudness is dialled back, but their relentless creativity and daring remains at the forefront, full of microtonal riffing, snappy drumming, funky, tasteful and sometimes lush synth leads, and Mackenzie’s beautifully campy and sometimes ominous vocals. King Gizzard have somehow made a formula with interchangeable parts. There is a signature sound here, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. From funk, to world music, to psych rock, to doom metal, it’s hardly consistent at all and yet somehow completely consistent. It’s a stark reminder that this is King Gizzard’s own little universe and we’re merely just visitors from time to time.
8.5/10