IN REVIEW: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - "Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava"

 

Surely, there has to come a time when King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard's torrid pace of releasing new music slows. That time, however, hasn't happened yet; it took a pandemic to slow them down ever so slightly but, now that they're back at full steam, their pace has returned to peak. Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava is the third of five 2022 albums from the prolific Aussie psych-rockers, their 21st overall, and sees the group centering their compositions around the seven modes of major scale, proving once again that no one is quite like them in terms of exploring within their craft.

The songs on this album are few, but not lacking in ambition; the seven tracks take up 64 minutes, with only one song falling below seven minutes and two that stretch past ten. Overall, the vibe is mostly familiar to fans, as KGLW fit their explorations into psychedelic sprawls that feature their unmistakable interplay and long stretches of instrumental acrobatics. Mycelium sets the stage beautifully, with its easy-going rhythms and swaths of kaleidoscopic sound. Lead single Ice V, meanwhile, allows for plenty of twists and turns over its ten minutes, incorporating some funk into its hypnotic rhythms and flowing naturally even as it stretches outward into some of their most jam-inspired material.

Magma skews toward jazzier territory with its in-the-pocket drums and widescreen instrumentation, allowing for all manner of layers to enter and exit freely throughout. Lava follows, the shortest and most nuanced (at least initially) of the songs here; tasteful pianos, bleating saxophone and drum splashes usher in a stripped down, tribal song that slowly surrounds its simple beat with added sounds until it explodes around the four minute mark into a cacophony of sounds and an enchanting mantra.

This is followed by the most epic song on the album, the 13-minute plus opus Hell's Itch; though best experienced with the absence of guide material, suffice to say this one goes on quite the journey over the course of its mammoth run time. Its jammy nature results in plenty of unexpected shifts as the song morphs and reforms itself across its substantial scope. That such a tour de force is bested by the smooth psych of Iron Lung doesn't seem possible, and yet here we are; the latter's nine minutes packs in the album's strongest melodies and further explores the jazzy funk that's appeared before but isn't used to the same thrilling extent as it is here (and the unexpectedly heavy turn at the 5:37 mark hits just right). From here, there's only closing track Gliese 710, which ties all of these sounds together and acts as a summary of all of what's been offered on the album up to this point.

Look, I've long ago given up looking for missteps with this band; the sheer volume and velocity of their creative output lends itself to letting some clunkers slip through the cracks but, aside from the occasional head scratcher on previous compilation-style releases, KGLW have excelled at each and every exploration they've undertaken up to this point, and this album is no exception. Of course, this style of restless exploration isn't for everybody and was never designed to set the mainstream ablaze; if you've been cool to what they've done in the past, chances are the appeal is limited to you this time as well. However, for those of us who have chosen to follow the band on this insane journey, Ice... is yet another thrilling excursion that ranks as their best of 2022 thus far.

October 7, 2022 • KGLW

Highlights Ice V • Hell's Itch • Iron Lung