Never ones to musically stand still and following explorations of everything from prog-fringed thrash metal, primitive synth-rock, down-home jam-rock hoedowns and feelgood symphonic rock on recent albums, Alien Metal grew out of last year’s ‘rave shows’ where traditional instruments were abandoned as the band gathered around an expansive modular synthesiser setup each making their own manipulations to create a mind-altering whole. And what began as an experiment soon became an obsession, inspiring one of the band’s most ambitious records to date. | | “It completely rewired my brain,” said Stu Mackenzie, having discovered the possibilities of the Eurorack synthesizer format on the recommendation of fellow band member and self-confessed | | ‘techno head of the group’ Joey Walker. “I was like, ‘I’m going to forget everything I know about music and relearn it all from scratch’.“ | | The album was far from straightforward to make. Over the course of several years, the band scrapped countless recordings and abandoned entire creative directions while searching for the project’s identity. “We’ve never scrapped so much material as we have for this album,” Mackenzie says. “Entire albums, entire universes that were formulated, created, recorded, deleted and started again.” | | The breakthrough finally arrived during a late-night improvisation session that stretched for more than an hour. That spontaneous jam became the foundation for the entire record, with every track on Alien Metal evolving from the same source performance. | | The result is a seamless, ever-shifting journey through techno, hardcore, house and jungle influences, filtered through King Gizzard’s unmistakable psychedelic lens. Pulsing rhythms, distorted textures and unexpected twists collide across a record that feels both futuristic and uniquely their own. “It sounds so crunchy, but also beautiful,” says Mackenzie. | | “Alien Metal goes really hard, but it also goes to really interesting places,” adds Joey Walker. “And it feels unique – it feels like us, still.“ | | King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are: | Stu Mackenzie (vocals/guitar), Ambrose Kenny-Smith (harmonica/vocals/keyboards), Cook Craig (guitar/vocals), Joey Walker (guitar/vocals), Lucas Harwood (bass) and Michael Cavanagh (drums). | | | 12 Bar Bruise (2012), Eyes Like the Sky (2013), Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013), Oddments (2014), I’m In Your Mind Fuzz (2014), Quarters! (2015), Paper Mache Dream Balloon (2015), Nonagon Infinity (2016), Flying Microtonal Banana (2017), Murder of the Universe (2017), Sketches of Brunswick East (2017), Polygondwanaland (2017), Gumboot Soup (2017), Fishing for Fishies (2019), Infest The Rats’ Nest (2019), Chunky Shrapnel (live album) (2020), K.G. (2020), L.W. (2021), Made in Timeland (2022), Omnium Gatherum (2022), Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs Mushrooms And Lava (2022), Laminated Denim (2022), Changes (2022), PetroDragonic Apocalypse (2023), The Silver Cord (2023), Flight b741 (2024), Phantom Island (2025), Alien Metal (2026). | | Connect with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: | |
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