King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Alien Metal
by oliver gerharz
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard was my favorite band in high school, or at least my favorite Aussie rock band. But I fell off as a fan when King Gizzard (& The Lizard Wizard) pulled their music from Spotify in July of last year. I’m not in support of the military drone investments the band cites as their primary reason for pulling their music from the service or anything, I’m just too lazy to jump ship on Spotify.
On Aug. 14 they released Alin Metal, their 28th studio album overall and the first album released since their divorce from Spotify. The album dropped the same weekend as their self-hosted Field of Vision festival in Buena Vista, CO. Alien Metal is a techno album, a genre King Gizzard has only recently delved into, particularly on their 2023 album The Silver Cord.
However, Alien Metal is set apart by diving deeper into an EDM sound. The album, released under the radar without any prior release date announcement, is a unique treat. But while Alien Metal is fun, it frequently dips into mediocrity, making it far from a standout among King Gizzard’s vast discography.
The album opens with “Sapience,” which swells into a drop that introduces a digital sound from a century in the future. While “Sapience” reminded me of Machine Girl’s sound, King Gizzard’s single “Alien Metal” and the following tracks all have elements that sound more like an old video game. The garbled and echoing vocals on “Alien Metal” sound silly at first, but mix perfectly with the instrumentals as time goes on.
The following tracks, “Superheavy, Supercritical” and “Kill for the Steel,” are some of the most exciting on the album. The former has an exciting repetition of the titular compound words in a way that combines with the pulsating beat to create a riveting song. The latter, whose lyrics extend to “We don’t wish death / But we will kill for the steel,” is a total attack on the senses — every beat sounds like a gunshot.
“Kill for the Steel” transitions suddenly into the album’s fifth track “Level 5,” a single with an ethereal sound that continues through the rest of the album. The music video for “Level 5” depicts doctors in red scrubs operating on an otherworldly creature — a situation that permeates the final tracks of Alien Metal.
The opening to “Rapid Alpha Decay” sounds almost holy before circling back to the electronic sound that dominates the album. However, it has pretty unserious, borderline awful lyrics. “I am the keeper of the energy” is particularly lame.
The next track “Uqt” sounds amazing, with lyrics that tie in to that alien surgery from “Level 5.” The final track “Atomic Collapse” is a fitting instrumental build off of the high of “Uqt” to embody all the best sounds you hear across Alien Metal.
Overall, Alien Metal made me think back on when I saw King Gizzard live in Chicago a few years ago. Towards the end of their show, they gathered around a synthesizer and all plugged away on an insane new sound. This album is the logical next step in that evolution, but it lacks any exceptional traits to make it more than a blip for King Gizzard. Still, it’s impossible to deny that King Gizzard has always been guided by their heart, and this new direction is heartfelt if nothing else.