This album starts out with “Beginner’s Luck”. It’s a pretty whimsical start, and honestly it’s sort of throwing me back to the days of ”Paper Mâché Dream Balloon”. I honestly can’t remember the last time I heard singer Stu Mackenzie this truly Psyched Out and bizarre. King Gizzard keep it smooth though, and “Beginner’s Luck” remains really sweet to listen to. I feel like this is always going to be a style that Gizz can easily return to. There’s obviously a very retro element to this, and I love some of the songwriting here. We forget between all of the outrageous experimentation that Gizz can write some truly catchy, memorable rock tunes. But of course, there are wild vocals, wilder guitar solos to bring it all together nicely. “Beginner’s Luck” is incredibly smooth, and a great intro. This album however takes a turn for the dark very quickly with “Greenhouse Heat Death”. This easily sounds like something “Murder of the Universe” or even “I’m In Your Mind Fuzz”. It’s dark, ominous, and incredibly slow-paced, and in a lot of ways is exactly what I love to hear from King Gizzard. In a weird way however, I feel like this belonged on one of their massive concept albums. As good as “Greenhouse Heat Death” is though, it certainly does seem like a complete show out of nowhere. But King Gizzard make it work, mostly because this track is so THEM, and I absolutely love hearing them in this atmosphere. Not to mention, it’s just refreshing to hear them tackle a Psych Rock tune that’s more slow paced and ominous. The Gizz return to their Retro-Psych roots though for “Barefoot Desert”. I do have to take a second and salute their dedication to writing some much more Pop-Oriented material, because there’s some seriously catchy stuff on this album. Once again, I am getting a real “Paper Mâché Dream Balloon” feel from this one with those flutes and more stripped down feel in the instrumentals. It’s a bizarre tune that’s more catchy than anything, even though it’s completely left field. I’m loving the spacey vibe that’s seemingly always present, but then we have the vocals. Here, stuff is giving us one of his more bluesy performances, but throwing in all the vocals effects he can find, making for a Space-Blues sound that I would love to hear more of. On the other hand, “Muddy Water’ sounds like a polished up B-Side from “Flying Microtonal Banana”. I absolutely love everything about this one, especially the performances here that are just so twisted and almost robotic. But King Gizzard use that to their advantage almost criminally well. It’s catchy, weird, but also much more animated and intense than anything else here. Of all the tracks presented here, “Muddy Water” easily has the most Psychedelic Rock feel. It’s constantly shifting, and is easily one of the most exciting tracks to listen to here. But at the same time, King Gizzard haven’t given up on their attempt to write catchier material, as evident in the hypnotizing chorus as well as those wonderful horn solos. “Muddy Water” has a LOT to offer any fan of King Gizzard.
Sadly though, this album isn’t all just interesting, seemingly B-Sides. Because this track is certainly out there, but almost for no reason. The smooth instrumental is almost a little too stripped down for my liking. But the weirdest part of this track has to be the vocals. This doesn’t even sound like Stu between the much less unhinged vocals and the layers of vocal effects that don’t do anything for me this time around. I’m sorry, but this is seriously just sloppy for King Gizzard, with no purpose in sight. The only elements to “Superposition” that is sort of enjoyable are these snappy horn solos. But even those get old quick, and overall this one just doesn’t work for me. The off-kilter funk of “Down The Sink” really isn’t doing much for me either sadly. To me, this just comes off as another attempt as a throwback Rock sound. And that’s totally fine, they usually do that enough by just being themselves. But honestly, “Down The Sink” is just trying too hard. It’s certainly funky and catchy and all, and the more Pop-Centered song writing is still working for them in a big way. But this isn’t a King Gizzard song in the slightest. Thankfully, Gizz really get their groove back with “The Great Chain of Being”, which is literally the heaviest and most intense song that I’ve heard from King Gizzard from “Nonagon Infinity”. It’s practically a Metal tune with the sheer force behind this one. But there’s enough wild performances and enough character to make it sound like this could have easily slipped onto one of their more recent albums. It’s a slick tune, and I don’t know what they did with the production, but all around this track is heavy. Hell, this track is heavier than half of the metal I’ve heard in the last year/ Gizz pull it together nicely though, and the result is an absolute mammoth of a tune. I would honestly LOVE to hear them pull this off for an entire album. “The Last Oasis” brings back in the lighter, fluffier sound we heard earlier. But after that monster of a tune, I can use a track like this. Now, the fact that King Gizzard can go for this light, hazy sound and nail it just as easily is absolutely nuts. It’s once again going for that sort of stripped down vibe we got on ”Paper Mâché Dream Balloon”, and they can still really nail that. But more than that, I feel like they’ve updated it with more vocal effects that really bring out some of the weirder aspects of King Gizzard. It’s the most nightmarish, bizarre Classic Rock worship you’re going to hear this year, but every last drop is lovable.
But after all of these tracks, see mingling running the gauntlet of all of King Gizzard’s sounds, it’s so refreshing to hear “All Is Known”. This is an all out, no rules Psych Rocker that’s completely off the rails from it’s opening guitar solos. I mean, once again, I feel like this would have fit nicely on “Flying Microtonal Banana” album, but it’s a little more polished and flashy. Obviously, a lot of tunes here seem to reach into the vaults of other King Gizzard projects. But even if you haven’t listened to all of them, I feel like this is still wildly enjoyable. It’s so great to know King Gizzard can still nail tunes like this. Then we have “I’m Sleepin’ In”. Now, as far as a seriously Psychedelic Rock oriented track goes, this one is the most bizarre and out there tune we’ve heard yet. It’s an alright tune, and I feel like the band actually pulls off the very hazy and dreamy feel of this one really well. But it’s a little too simple for me, being incredibly repetitive only a minute in. Not to mention, why is the production here so damn ugly? “The Wheel” however, ends this album off with a really stark change of pace. It’s just as Psychedelic and out there, but this one is just so cold and not colorful at all. To be honest, it’s pretty hulking and heavy too. But the results are incredible. It really creates this very swirling, massive atmosphere that I really can’t get enough of. “The Wheel” is hypnotizing, and blurs the lines between multiple King Gizzard projects, and is a really great way to end such an interesting collection of tracks.
Rating: 7.9/10
Give A Listen To: “Greenhouse Heat Death”, “Muddy Water”, “The Great Chain Of Being”, “The Last Oasis"
Genre: Psychedelic Rock / Psychedelic Punk / Indie Rock / Garage Rock
Overall Thoughts: Obviously, I’m pissed that it’s taken me so long to chat about this. King Gizzard with their fifth and final album of 2017 gave us a broad collection of tracks, seemingly pulling a little something from all of their other projects from this year. Whether it be the intensity of “Muddy Water”, the absolute mind-blowing power of “Greenhouse Heat Death”, or the very breezy “The Last Oasis”, if you consider yourself a King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard fan, this is a must listen. I do have to say, this is obviously the album King Gizzard have dropped this year with no real central theme or “gimmick”, which may alienate some. But for a varied collection of tracks that show King Gizzard focusing much more on songwriting, this is VERY solid.
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