Add another three well-rounded projects to the King Gizzard catalogue. Time and time again they manage to pull off feats that most would be quite happy to leave well alone, let alone offer up. Working through a conceptual idea and fleshing out its assets seems to lend a hand in bringing forth a colossal amount of output. The obstacle is the way and King Gizzard show the creative types that you can set limits and benefit greatly from their boundaries. Enforcing rules makes the game that much more freeing. A jazz-y air exudes all three projects—soothing and happy to be alive, but one eye is inevitably on the future in an existential manner. However, a sense of fun is always at hand. Psychedelic undertones permeate in usual King Gizz fashion. Rippling through on waves of nonchalance, the new set of albums from the King Gizzard camp swiftly saunter to their destination. – Peter (8/10, 7/10, 7.5/10)
Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava
Released October 7, 2022 via KGLW
Reviewed November 12, 2022
Top tracks (based on community voting)
Iron Lung (71%), Ice V (55%), Magma (52%)
The first of the October three-piece—Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms, and Lava—is a collection of jazzy, prog-influenced jam tracks. It isn’t a reinvention of the genre, or even of a sound they’ve often utilized, but it delivers. Extended solo parts, infectious grooves, and chilled-out, jazzier passages to complement make Ice a nice fusion of psychedelic sounds. Most interestingly, King Gizz built this seven-track record around the seven Greek modes. Each track makes use of a different key and tempo—all that the band planned ahead of recording—every song has its own individual flavor and atmosphere as the band finds pockets within each mode as they jam out as a unit. Contrasting the first track, “Mycelium,” to the last, “Gliese 710,” is an easy way to illustrate this; the album starts out rather bubbly, light, and almost child-like before traversing fungi and fire to culminate in the dark, smoky closer. – Dominick (7.8/10)
Hadley: 8.5/10 | Peter: 8/10 | Dominick: 7.8/10 | Cam: 7.3/10
Community Review
Ice, Death shows King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard journey through the seven modes of western music in their first wholly “jam band” release. The greatest flaw would be that it’s not exactly a right release. A few songs can feel like the drag on or overstay their welcome. However, tracks like “Ice V,” “Hell’s Itch,” and “Iron Lung” prove once again that Gizzard can keep tracks interesting throughout even as tracks get longer. Additionally, “Hell’s Itch” and “Iron Lung” have some of the greatest vocal performances of all of King Gizzard’s discography, period. – Anakalea (8/10)
Laminated Denim
Released October 12, 2022 via KGLW
Reviewed November 12, 2022
Top track (based on community voting)
The Land Before Timeland (88%), Hypertension (12%)
The second of the trio is Laminated Denim, an anagram of and spiritual successor to Made In Timeland. Like its predecessor, Laminated Denim comes in the form of two 15-minute tracks. It’s another jam-band record for the six-piece.
Written around the ticking of a clock, the album makes heavy use of the krautrock-staple Motorik drum beat. This steady foundation keeps the band chugging right along through “The Land Before Timeland” and beyond.
It has the psychedelic skew you’d expect, but Laminated Denim is much more of a driving and intensive record than anything. It’s got tight grooves and strong riffs, but it travels across space and time with force and purpose; there’s no time for detours on the journey to Timeland.
It leads you into another dimension, creating the whirlwind experience and sensation that is “Hypertension.” The pace picks up, the band’s jamming intensifies, and Stu Mackenzie and Ambrose Kenny-Smith become more engaged vocalists as you’re immersed into this strange new world.
Plain and simple, Laminated Denim is just an incredibly fun record. – Dominick (8.8/10)
Dominick: 8.8/10 | Hadley: 7.5/10 | Cam: 7/10 | Peter: 7/10
Community Review
Laminated Denim is hard to swallow at first but when you give it enough tries you will end up blasting this album almost everyday. It takes me back to when I first discovered Polygondwanaland. Also, there are lots of references in the songs and it features the return of the "gizzverse." The structure of the songs may seem like mindless jams at first, but the first track has a very positive and happy vibe, with its ending features among the most psychedelic/abstract moments in the band's discography. As for “Hypertension,” it's the opposite; it features a melancholic vibe and the ending features a very positive vibe. Both songs present themselves as white and black with black and white endings if that makes sense. – Anakalea (10/10)
Changes
Released October 28, 2022 via KGLW
Reviewed November 12, 2022
Top tracks (based on community voting)
Change (68%), Gondii (55%), Astroturf (48%)
Rounding out the trifecta, King Gizzard’s third album of October is the lightest of the bunch. While much softer in sound than the others, Changes comes with a similarly complex but simplistic formula.
Each track on the album is based around different variations of a single chord progression that can be heard on the first track, “Change.” Expanding upon the foundation of the intro, Changes explores psychedelic pop, retro-R&B, and jazz-funk through its 40-minute runtime. It eschews the jam-band approach of their previous two albums in favor of a meticulous attention to detail.
It’s a colorful kaleidoscope of ‘60s and ‘70s sounds as groovy basslines and warm synths combine with some soft, melodic vocal performances from Mackenzie and Kenny-Smith. Changes may not quite be the ultimate King Gizz offering, but it’s a more than welcome one. – Dominick (8/10)
Dominick: 8/10 | Hadley: 8/10 | Cam: 7.5/10 | Peter: 7.5/10
Community Review
The album is the meaning of taking a long amazing song, and tearing it apart to make a full album. The album is a jazz rock fusion with touches of pop and a bit of jam band style. The opening 13 minutes track contains a bit from every other track on the album and the tracks after expands the tiny ideas that came from the big track. Only complaint is the length. – Anakalea (9/10)
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