Australian Superband King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Drop Techno Album: ‘Alien Metal’
One of my favorite things to write about are artists who deviate from their standard sounds and venture into EDM territory. This is fun to see as artists put their all into pushing sonic boundaries. The best example of this is Australian superband King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, or King Gizz for short. This band has released numerous albums across a near endless bandwidth of genres. They put out songs that sound close to The Beatles and Grateful Dead, as well as Thrash Metal, Turkish-influenced House, Indie Rock, and Dream Pop, amongst many more. This “rock band” has released yet another album, Alien Metal This time, the album is largely influenced by techno. This increases the diversity of their discography even more. Showcasing their true talents and versatility. I like to play a fun game with friends where I play multiple KGLW songs of different genres in a row, leaving them stunned at the bands versatility.
Alien Metal starts out with a BANG on first track, “Sapience”; a song with a unique liquid metal sound, living up to the album’s title. Techno kicks dance with wobbling synth, giving the song’s instrumentation a layer of Grateful Dead-like melody. “Alien Metal” has ethereal talk-box vocals and upbeat melodies, galloping at a thrilling yet beautiful pace. The vocals grow even more robotic alien, with surreal lyrics to match.
“Water, fire. Clouds and ice. Astral blacksmith won’t you give me a fix? I promise I can keep it a secret.”
Next up is “Superheavy, Supercritical”. It features the strongest techno sounds so far, balanced out with soft keyboards and distorted vocals. Sections fade in and out throughout the nearly seven minute run time. There are a multitude of drum effects to be heard. Kicks of course. but there are also bells, Tamborine, hi-hats, cymbals, and claps. These drum effects clash and blend together, creating a complex blend of sounds. King Gizz simply cannot help but be eccentric, even when producing a techno album. “Kill For The Steel” features a darker tone lyrically and instrumentally. The lyrics claim that they do not “wish death” or “wish bad luck” but will “Kill For The Steel.” This contradiction adds to the song’s mystique. This exceptionally dark track features HEAVY drums and disorienting sonic production decisions. This darkness is balanced out by light synth and strings. The song ends with heavy, menacing sounds, including a doomsday clock ticking. The end of this song leaves me speechless due to its breakneck shifts.
“Level 5” features some very silly lyrics including: “The milk’s gone bad, expiry. Dropping like flies on the windscreen” and “mortician, don’t make me look ugly tonight. Got a date with the end of the world, we’re out of time. This further puts the band’s eccentric nature at center stage. There is nothing wrong with having a little fun while producing kick ass bops. The beat is steadily maintained for most of the song, making it easy to groove too “Level 5” also trades in techno kicks for Drum and Bass breakbeats. It fades out with lingering drum breaks and distorted vocals. “Rapid Alpha Decay” features the slowest moving beat, icy layers, and liquid bass and drum effects. The synths go off like laser fire under more distorted vocals, ending with a gradual fade out.
“UQT” is my favorite track on the album BY FAR! The title is a play on algebraic symbols. U represents potential energy, Q represents the physical charges that flow through a designated channel or circuit, and T simply measures the unit of time. This song vividly describes electroshock experimentation and dissection by aliens. This further adds lore to the album’s title. “UQT” features the biggest sonic shifts on the album, shedding light on the dark distorted vocals, making them much more melodic. Savage guitar riffs add an extra layer of heaviness to the mix. The beat bounces back and forth like a demented pinball machine. It takes on a progressive techno tone and features KGLW unique riff style electrified. Alarms blare as the beat rises, swimming in a sea of synth and drums and closing out the track. Last but not least, “Atomic Collapse” starts out subtle and slowly expands into a full-blown techno track. Cricket-like drums and fluid basslines dance with digital, melodic synth. This song sounds like alien transmissions being slowly beamed to earth. The layers of this song are very complex and beyond description. You simply must hear this epic closer for yourselves.
I am very excited to share one of my favorite bands with RB readers and write about this incredible album.
