King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (2023)^{Release ID: 45126}

Let's be honest: King Gizzard are a bunch of dorks, despite the quality of their music.  For years their clever usage of garage-rock and punkish monotony took the musical underground by storm.  two-hour long psychedelic albums would make this "projects" band comparable to The Grateful Dead, and they were one of those bands you only listened to if you were a "real" music buff.  And then they became a thrash metal band.  I was surprised with the good reception of Infest the Rats' nest, but I haven't gotten around to it just yet.  I figured the thrash thing would just be a gimmick rather than a serious new side of them.  And then PetroDragonic Apocalypse gets ALL the ladies  I may be a Christian, but I love album covers with giant dragon motherfuckers telling the world it's his bitch.  With reception on par with a classic-era thrash album or a Vektor album displayed on the internet, how could I refuse and stay true to myself?  I'm a thrash and prog fanatic, and I can't get enough of it because there ISN'T enough of it, at least not enough that's good.  So I put this on.

Son of a bitch.  That Motorhead influence TACKLED me.  The album is filled with repetitive but engaging progressive structures that leave the rest of the work to the charisma of the band harmonizing their vocals and jamming like hell.  Even when playing a melody properly, these guys KNOW HOW TO JAM.  And it isn't just because they've always been jammers due to their psych rock history, but they revive a side of metal that has been consistently overshadowed by the extremities of black and death as well as the surreal behavior of many modern acts like Oranssi Pazuzu, Krallice and Blut Aus Nord: the side of metal that jammed back in the days of 80's speed metal.  This made the album stand out among the rest of the metal crowd.  And because Gizzard also made sure to keep their fuzz factor in mind, this prog-thrash album also has stoner and sludgy undertones working with the Motorhead influence to further empower the jam factor.  Thus, the personality is usually more engaging than the actual progressive structures, which themselves offer only a few surprises and may not be so enjoyable without the KG vibe. There are even some trippier moments scattered around that heavily recall the psychedelic side without falling into the genre.  So the band is balancing out Motorhead, apocalyptic surreality, metallic jam factor and punk monotony all with their signature vibe fully intact.  That's pretty ingenious, and almost fully justifies the occasionally lacking proggy structures.  But get this: they saved the best for last.  The nine-minute Flamethrower shows all the best of the previously mentioned aspects in the roughest display of heaviness on the album with abnormal consistency.  It even includes the only actual psychedelic rock riff on the album, and it fits in no problem.

So maybe the individual tracks of PetroDragonic Apocalypse aren't the "best" thrash songs ever written, but they certainly are fun.  Any aspects that shouldn't be very surprising are made much more surprising because King Gizzard implemented their psychedelic garage essence and personality into the thrash genre so well that this album, while being a completely different genre, still remains a King Gizzard album.  The album didn't reach my lowest reasonable expectations.  It was a little higher, but not the masterpiece the internet made it out to be IMO.  But it seriously proves that Gizzard can pretty much do anything, assuming they aren't putting out six albums a year for the online rep.  I feel that thrash fans should listen to this potential modern classic, but you'll get more out of it if you're already familiar with a few classic garage or psychedelic King Gizzard albums.  This album represents one of the most effortless genre transitions I've ever seen out of hearing nearly 12,000 albums.  But if you really wanna know what a prog Motorhead sounds like, then listen to this as soon as you can.  King Gizzard have always been masters of monotony and personality through repetition, and their second thrash outing does their wacky catalog full justice.

92/100.

Realization Of Annihilation

PetroDragonic Apocalypse is the second peculiar Metal offering from the abundantly productive Australians that try their damnedest to keep their fans guessing at every turn. This one comes at slightly less of a surprise given Infest The Rats' Nest's popularity, which was a spectacle no one could look away from once word got out that King Gizz made a Thrash Metal album of all things. I certainly couldn't and it turned out to be a spectacularly interesting blend of Stoner and Thrash drenched in their Heavy Psych influences that got a ton of play out of a metalhead like me. However, it feels strange calling King Gizz's brand of Thrash genuinely true to genre, and PetroDragonic Apocalypse only obscures the genre lines further with its crisper production job, extended and meandering song structures, and wacky progressive tendencies.

After browsing through an interview, the band stated that this album was created similarly to the first of their three 2022 albums Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava in that all of the songs were created and recorded within one day each with heavy improvisation and only a general idea of the album's theme. While this showcases Gizz's immense musical talent as players and songwriters, it also confirms my suspicion in regards to the somewhat repetitive nature of PetroDragonic Apocalypse on the whole. Infest The Rats’ Nest held true to its classic thrashy influences with most tracks being less than four minutes, whereas this album sees almost all tracks breaking five minutes with three passing the eight minute mark. The extended and jammy song structures alongside repetitive riffing and gruff, hoarse vocals that evolve into full on throat singing during tracks like “Motor Spirit” and “Dragon” create a strangely compelling fusion that, to my ears, is more of a Progressive Stoner experience overall. As much as I enjoyed Infest The Rats’ Nest as a concept, PetroDragonic Apocalypse feels like a true reimagining of how Gizz prefers to write and perform a Metal album given their strengths as a group.

Despite having a crisper and less fuzzy production job than Infest The Rats’ Nest, this album still lacks that bite and encompassing, aggressive lower end that you’ll hear from other bands that use similar thrashy riffing. They show they’re capable of it though, as the opening of “Converge” and “Flamethrower” are sufficiently destructive, but they eventually transition back into their scratchy, off-kilter riffing or driving chugs. Normally, riffs are the backbone of any Metal album and while Gizz have shown that they are more than capable of writing cool guitar parts, it’s fairly obvious that they had a theme in mind during their sessions for this album. While it makes the album’s theme extremely cohesive, the guitar work starts to blend together over repeated listens a bit too much for me to get truly excited about it. There are some standout sections like the sharp fills between the throat singing in “Motor Spirit”, the main riff of “Gila Monster”, and the overall lead guitar work of “Dragon”, but the real hooks of PetroDragonic Apocalypse come from how all the other elements and songwriting are woven around the Metal base. Tribal-like toms and drum breaks help to create some of the best grooves on the album, showcasing Gizz’s ability to handle abrupt transitions and allowing them to inject a heavy dose of meandering Psych into almost every track. “Dragon” is the crown jewel of this alliance between their usual style and their Metal musings with its early, abrupt transition into a full three minute rebuild to get back to the original riff. “Flamethrower” does this as well, but goes one step further and launches into an otherworldly, electronics driven soundscape that will apparently lead into their next project. The rest of the tracks range from the standout “Gila Monster” with its infectious gang vocals and poignant riffing, to the energetic and fast “Supercell”, to the slightly disappointing middle of “Converge” and “Witchcraft”. “Witchcraft” especially leans into Gizz’s roots thanks to its brighter lead guitar tone, less aggressive vocals, and a Pysch interlude that sounds like it could be on a completely different album.

When I originally listened to Infest The Rats’ Nest in 2019 I found it strange that my favorite song off the album was “Superbug”, the only track on the surprise Thrash album that had almost nothing to do with Thrash. So, the fact that PetroDragonic Apocalypse lessens the Thrash influence but doubles down on the Progressive Stoner angle is only a positive in my opinion despite certain aspects overstaying their welcome within the longer song structures. It’s awesome and exciting to hear such a prestigious band tackle the world of Metal in their own way. In hindsight, Infest The Rats’ Nest feels like Gizz wanting to create a Thrash inspired album within the confines of the Thrash genre, whereas this album feels like a realization of what can be done when approaching Metal from a different angle. While I don’t think that PetroDragonic Apocalypse is jaw-droppingly groundbreaking, it successfully conveys a strong, cohesive theme of environmental destruction using distinct elements in ways I wouldn’t have guessed. Although their riffs don’t hit has hard as other Metal albums and their Progressive elements may be a bit too Psych focused to really make an impact within the songwriting, I’m very glad that this album managed to show everyone what a King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Metal album can really sound like if they lean into their identity as a group.