King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
King Gizz have blessed us with quite a few years of prime psych around here, rolling through a tumble of incarnations – stomping blues, acoustic pop, savage psychedelic storm and cowboy poetry. They’re reviving the storm for Nonagon Infinity, recorded at NY’s famed Daptone studios and over a year in the making; an eternity for a band on a two to three album a year schedule. The polishing has paid off as Nonagon rolls through speakers like a battering ram of rhythm and fury, bringing down a metric ton of squall and slashing at any who might doubt that such a prolific outfit could have this much quality material on lock at all times.
The record runs rampant with a thematic punch, a pounding repeated guitar herald and chant of “Nonagon Infinity opens the door.” The theme plays into the band’s touch of occultism that’s risen in some of their past videos and here they mix that with a doomsday prophecy and lyrics that hint at mankind’s ravaging of the planet. Most environmental screeds don’t burn to the touch like this one does, but King Gizz manage to make the looming atrocities of man’s greed seem both harrowing and thrilling at the same time, like being strapped into a George Miller setpiece and shot at the speed of sound across a desert flatland powered by harmonica screech and a double kick pounce.
What could make the package more enticing? The whole album runs on an infinite loop if you knock it to repeat, feeding back into itself like a lysergic ouroboros with a furious appetite for destruction. It goes without saying that this was highly anticipated but in the wake of its scorched path, this is going to be a hard one for anyone to touch as album of the year.