King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are a busy bunch. With 15 albums in seven years, the Melbourne seven-piece are making music with a sense of urgency that pairs well with social commentary on Infest the Rats’ Nest.
The Gizz dabble with apocalyptic “cli-fi” that mirrors our current anxieties about the planet. Where on-the-pulse sentiment wins, the instrumentals lack appeal — unless you’re a fan of head-banging thrash metal.
It scares rather than inspires; a rogue detour from their blues-rock predecessor Fishing for Fishes.
Planet B opens on an aggressive note with slapdash guitar riffs and the doomsday line: “There is no Planet B.” The lyrically arresting Mars for the Rich is equally pessimistic through a guttural slur: “Mars for the privileged, Earth for the poor.”
Admittedly, their sweltering sound fuelled by oily electric guitars will have you on the edge of your seat and conveys a fitting sense of climate emergency, but the listening experience is an effort.
The Gizz’s disturbing prophecy has a traumatic pace best reserved for death pits or Armageddon. Their anxiety-inducing formula may suit the current zeitgeist but it’s a harsh test on the ears.
