King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have a new album out: PetroDragonic Apocalypse, also known by its full name, the jaunty PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation. For all the words in the album title, there’s only one that comes to mind listening to the 24^th studio album from the rockers: ferocious.

Despite saying their thrash metal album Infest the Rats’ Nest was a on “one-off experiment”, the band “have heard the siren call of metal in the wind” again, and return with another seven songs of pure, uncompromising metal. From the start, the record roars out of the speakers in a blaze of squealing guitars, pummelling rhythms and terrifying vocals. Lead singer Stu Mackenzie said the collection came from jam sessions and is “about humankind and it’s about planet Earth, but it’s also about witches and dragons and shit.”

The video for lead single Gila Monster shows their dizzying mythology in a tongue-in-cheek way, with a wild vocal breakdown from Ambrose Kenny-Smith that sets the whole song alight. Meanwhile, the video for Dragon, made by Jason Galea, visually interprets their full “gonzo psych weirdness”, about which one viewer enthused, “Finally KG is embracing their mystical giant flame-throwing lizard narrative. Very stoked about this.” It’s clear that the band is having fun. This is music made for music’s sake, without any pre-design. It’s the sound of a band with boundless creative energy going where the music takes them. The muse said “metal”, so metal is where they go.

The sound is very heavy and so will not be to all tastes. The effect is like they’re trying to summon the spirit of Lemmy of Motorhead via the medium of one hallucinogenic-fuelled Mongolian throat-singing jam session in the Outback. Motor Spirit launches with fret-melting guitar solos and the energy never lets up. Is it an easy listen? Unequivocally, no. The songs rage and sprawl, per-mutating through different incarnations and rhythms via near ten-minute running times. It’s heavy but with an intricacy that rewards each listen. Witchcraft is the more melodic of the tracks on the album, with an urgently weaving sound. Dragon includes a verse in Latin and a lot of chanting of the word dragon – because why not? The closing track, Flamethrower, twitches away enigmatically into the ether, presumably already looking for the concept for the next album.

Jessica Malcolm

PetroDragonic Apocalypse is released on 16^th June 2023. For further information or to order the album visit King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Gila Monster here: